THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


SCROLLS 

ESSAYS  ON  JEWISH  HISTORY 

AND  LITERATURE,  AND 

KINDRED  SUBJECTS 


GOTTHARD  DEUTSCH 


SCROLLS 

ESSAYS  ON  JEWISH  HISTORY 

AND  LITERATURE,  AND 

KINDRED  SUBJECTS 


By 
GOTTHARD  DEUTSCH 


IX  TWO  VOLUMES 
VOL.  I. 


run: 


n^oo  n^jo  minn 


The  Torah  was  given  in  single  scrolls. 

—Gittin,  60,  a. 


ARK  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

CINCINNATI 

BLOCH  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK 
1917 


COPYRIGHT,  1917 

BY 
ARK  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


DEDICATED  TO  THE 


ALUMNI  OF 
THE  HEBREW  UNION  COLLEGE 


CONTENTS. 

Introduction 7 

Philosophy  of  Jewish  History 77 

Minima  Curat  Historicus 99 

De  Minimis  Curat  Historicus 115 

Everybody  Says  So 121 

1815  to  1915 127 

History  Repeats  Itself 145 

The  Year  1903  in  Jewish  History 165 

The  Year  5665 189 

The  Year  5666 203 

Judaism  in  5668 213 

The  Year  5669 245 

The  Year  5670  271 


INTRODUCTION. 

THIS  collection  of  essays,  which  were  published 
within  the  last  twentyfive  years,  in  various 
periodicals,  yearbooks,  and  similar  works,  are  pre- 
sented to  the  public  as  a  specimen  vitae  humanae. 
Many  of  them  I  would  not  write  today,  most  of  them 
I  would  modify,  and  others,  I  freely  admit,  I  wish  I 
never  had  written.  The  uncertainty  in  the  history 
of  our  older  literature,  and  my  appreciation  of  the 
great  loss  we  have  suffered  by  the  absence  of  correct 
data  about  the  authors  of  certain  statements  in 
rabbinical  literature,  make  me  feel  the  importance  of 
collecting  even  the  insignificant.  The  biographer  of 
Charlemagne  tells  us  of  a  traveling  merchant,  wrhom 
the  brilliant  emperor  used  in  playing  a  trick  on  a 
greedy  bishop.1  How  important  would  it  be  to  us, 
did  we  possess  the  letters  which  this  man,  probably 
living  in  Italy,  sent  to  his  family,  during  his  journey. 
Such  letters  were  in  those  days  commonplace,  but 
now  they  would  be  a  valued  source  of  historic  informa- 
tion. Isaac  of  Durbalo,  in  the  twelfth  century  was 
hardly  a  genius.  He  may  not  have  been,  even  in  his 
day  a  scholar  of  note.  Yet  if  he  had  written  some- 
thing about  his  journey  from  France  to  Olmuetz,2  des- 
scribing  the  manner  in  which  he  travelled,  the  business 
in  which  he  was  engaged,  the  hospitality  which  was 

'Graetz:     Geschichte,  V,  182,  3.  ed.     Freytag:     Bildcr  aus 
d.  deutschen  Vergangenheit.  1,  322,  Leipsic,  1888. 
=Mahzor  Vitry,  p.  388,  Berlin,  1896-1897. 


8  SCROLLS 

offered  to  him  by  his  co-religionists,  we  would  greet 
it  as  an  important  historic  document. 

Nothing  more  is  needed  to  corroborate  this  state- 
ment, than  to  point  to  the  valuable  information  which 
we  received  through  the  publication  of  the  memoirs 
of  Glueckel  of  Hameln,3  twenty  years  ago.  The 
authoress  was  a  woman,  undoubtedly  of  higher  at- 
tainments than  the  average  of  her  class  two  hundred 
years  ago,  but  her  mental  horizon  is  limited  to  petty 
congregational  gossip  and  family  affairs.  The  same 
may  be  said,  with  some  difference  as  to  the  character 
of  the  author,  with  regard  to  the  memoirs  of  Jacob 
Emden.4  May  I  not  flatter  myself,  that  ideas  which 
I  expressed  on  current  topics,  since  1877,  may,  just 
because  they  reflect  the  fleeting  ideas  of  the  days  in 
which  they  were  written,  prove  of  more  than  personal 
interest.  The  latter,  however, — I  freely  admit— 
was  the  main  motive,  which  guided  me  in  accepting 
the  offer  of  the  Alumni  of  the  Hebrew  Union  College, 
to  place  a  sum  of  money  at  my  disposal  on  the  occasion 
of  my  twenty-fifth  anniversary  as  teacher  of  that 
institution,  and  I  accepted  it  for  the  purpose  of 
collecting  for  my  own  satisfaction  these  scattered 
products  of  my  pen. 

In  old  Jewish  literature  the  author  disappeared 
behind  his  book.  Of  our  mediaeval  authors,  almost 
down  to  the  eighteenth  century,  we  may  say  that 
their  biographies  are  their  books.  Of  many  works, 
whose  time  and  authorship  are  of  prime  importance, 
the  writers'  lives  are  unknown  to  us.  It  is  cer- 
tainly a  source  of  regret,  that  a  book,  reflecting  the 

'Jewish  Encyclopedia,  vi,  197. 
4Megillat  Sefer,  Warsaw,  1896. 


INTRODUCTION 


spirit  of  the  age,  and  the  country  where  it  originated, 
like  Pirke  Rabbi  Eliezer,  cannot  be  fully  explained, 
because  \ve  are  left  to  guess  its  origin.  It  is, 
therefore,  not  personal  vanity,  which  inspired  me  in 
prefacing  the  collection  of  my  essays  with  a  bio- 
graphical sketch,  intended  only  to  serve  future 
generations  as  a  mirror  of  conditions,  in  many  in- 
stances representing  a  remote  past,  and  important 
because  they  coincide  with  an  era  of  transition. 

My  native  town  is  Kanitz,  or  as  it  is  now  officially 
called,  Stadt  Kanitz,  located  in  the  Austrian  province 
of  Moravia,  about  ten  miles  southwest  of  Bruenn, 
the  capital  of  the  province.  The  latest  census  gives 
to  the  town  3,022  inhabitants.  There  were  hardly 
any  more  in  the  olden  times,  though  it  is  quite  an 
old  city,  whose  existence  can  be  traced  back  to  the 
thirteenth  century.  The  Jewish  congregation  is 
undoubtedly  much  younger.  The  synagogue  bears 
as  the  date  of  erection  the  year  412  A.  M.,  or  1652. 
The  oldest  tombstones  in  the  cemetery  date  from 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century.  This, 
however,  is  not  significant,  because  owing  to  the 
sloping  ground  and  the  soft  soil,  a  great  number  of 
tombstones,  and  among  them  probably  the  oldest, 
are  buried  in  the  ground.  There  is,  besides,  an  older 
cemetery,  which  in  my  boyhood  days  was  only 
known  by  two  illegible  tombstones.  The  probabili- 
ties are  that  the  Jewish  congregation  originated, 
when  in  1454,  owing  to  the  agitation  of  the  fanatic 
Franciscan  friar,  John  Capistrano,  the  Jews  were 
expelled  from  Bruenn,  as  well  as  from  other  "royal" 
cities  of  the  province.  The  fifteenth  century  was  the 


10  SCROLLS 

period  of  expulsions,  due  to  the  jealousy  of  the 
burghers  of  the  larger  cities,  who,  having  obtained 
an  autonomous  administration,  tried  to  rid  them- 
selves of  their  Jewish  competitors.  We  find,  there- 
fore, all  over  Germany — and  Moravia,  as  part  of  the 
kingdom  of  Bohemia  belonged  to  the  German  Em- 
pire— the  Jews,  expelled  from  large  cities,  usually 
succeeded  in  getting  permission  to  settle  on  the  estate 
of  some  noble  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city  from  which 
they  were  expelled.  This  probably  was  the  origin 
of  the  Jewish  settlement  in  Kanitz.  It  contained, 
up  to  1848,  while  the  number  of  Jews  was  limited 
by  law,  111  Jewish  families,  which,  as  the  number  was 
often  transgressed,  represented  about  six  hundred 
souls. 

My  own  family,  on  my  father's  side,  and  probably 
on  my  mother's  side  also,  was  settled  there  since  the 
seventeenth  century.  On  the  mother's  side,  there 
is  no  documentary  evidence  older  than  1795,  when 
her  grandfather,  Joseph  Wiener,  died,  but  the  family 
name  would  indicate  that  her  ancestors  were  among 
the  exiles,  expelled  from  Vienna  in  1670,  and  of 
whom,  as  we  know,  the  greater  part  found  refuge  in 
Moravia.  On  the  father's  side  the  information  is 
more  exact.  The  Memor  Book  of  the  congregation, 
which  was  written  in  1 765 ,  but  is  in  its  older  parts  copied 
from  an  older  book,  dating  at  least  from  the  beginning 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  contains  as  the  oldest  name 
of  the  family,  Meir  Jacob,  the  son  of  Joseph,  who  died 
Sivan  4,  466  (May  17,  1706),  and  of  his  wife,  Schoendl, 
who  died  Adar  12,  474  (February  12,  1714).  In 
honor  of  their  memory,  their  son,  Joseph,  donated  a 


INTRODUCTION  11 


curtain  to  the  synagogue.  This  son  Joseph  who 
died  Nissan  20,  483  (April  15,  1723),  is  already 
better  known.  His  tombstone,  which  is  well  pre- 
served, praises  him  as  a  leader  in  the  service,  and  as  a 
successful  advocate  of  the  congregation.  He  was 
one  of  the  elders  of  the  Jewish  organization  of  the 
province,  and  his  signature  is  found  under  some  of 
the  resolutions  passed  at  the  regular  conventions  of 
the  provincial  Jewry.5  He  evidently  died  young,  for 
his  wife,  Hannah,  the  daughter  of  Rabbi  Eliezer, 
survived  him  fully  half  a  century.  She  died  Ab  12, 
533  (Aug.  1,  1773).  Her  father,  Rabbi  Eliezer,  or 
with  his  full  name,  Jacob  Eliezer  Brunschwig,  was  the 
most  glorious  reminiscence  of  the  family.  He  was  the 
head  of  the  rabbinical  college  (Klaus)  of  Mannheim 
at  the  time  when  it  was  opened  in  1708,  afterwards 
rabbi  of  Kanitz,  and  at  the  end  of  his  life,  rabbi  of 
Vienna,  where  he  died  on  the  first  day  of  Passover, 
489  (April  15,  1729).6  Judging  by  his  name  and  by 
the  fact  that  he  came  from  Mannheim,  before  he  was 
rabbi  of  Kanitz,  it  would  appear  probable  that  he  was 
a  native  of  western  Germany.  This  impression  is 
strengthened  by  the  fact  that  Samson  Wertheimer, 
the  powerful  financier,  who  was  a  native  of  Worms, 
called  him  to  Vienna.  As  the  Jews  of  Vienna  had  no 
corporate  rights  until  1848,  Jacob  Eliezer  was  nomi- 
nally private  chaplain  to  Samson  Wertheimer.  He 

5\Yolf  Die  altcn  Statuten  der  juedischcn  Gemeinden  in  Maeh- 
ren  1  p.  146,  Vienna,  1880,  where  Tentsch  ought  to  be  Tcutsch. 

6Kaufmann:  Letzte  Vertreihung  dor  Juden  von  \Vien, 
p.  82,  Vienna,  1889.  Loewenstein:  Geschichte  der  Juden  in 
der  Kurpfalz,  p.  171,  Frankfurt  a.M.,  1895.  I'mia:  Die 
Lemle  .\loses  Klausstiftung,  p.  9-10,  K.  a.  M.,  1908.  Lewin: 
Geschichte  der  badischen  Juden,  p.  57,  Karlsruhe,  1909. 


12  SCROLLS 

was  certainly  a  remarkable  Talmudic  scholar,  and  his 
plan  of  a  Talmudic  concordance,  a  work  still  found  in 
manuscript  in  the  royal  library  of  Berlin,  shows  that 
he  had  a  systematic  mind.  His  son,  Joshua  Selig, 
who  died  October  17,  1762,  mentions  in  an  appeal 
numerous  works  on  rabbinic  theology,  including 
Cabbala,  which  his  father  left,  and  which  he  desired 
to  publish.  He  did  not  succeed,  and  even  the 
authorship  of  the  concordance  was  denied  to  R.  Eliezer 
by  Steinschneider,7  who  on  the  ground  of  false  informa- 
tion, ascribed  it  to  another  Rabbi  Eliezer,  officially 
called  Lazar  Fried,  who  died  as  rabbi  of  Kanitz  in 
1819,  and  was  a  great  grandson  of  Jacob  Eliezer. 

The  family  name  of  the  son  Joshua  Selig  is  unknown 
to  me,  and  I  do  not  know  whether  he  left  any  de- 
scendants. The  memory  of  the  ghetto  is  very  short. 
Jacob  Eliezer  left  various  daughters,  who  were 
married  to  rabbinical  scholars.  One  of  these  was 
Eliakim  Gottschalk  Wannefried,  who  is  mentioned  in 
the  famous  controversy  on  the  heresy  charges  brought 
against  Jonathan  Eybeschuetz.  His  grandson  was 
Rabbi  Lazar  Fried,  previously  mentioned,  and 
another  descendant  is  Phineas  Loeb  Frieden,  who 
died  as  Rabbi  of  Komorn,  Hungary,  June  llth, 
1873. 8  He  represented  the  orthodox  traditions  of  the 
family,  while  a  descendant  of  another  daughter, 
Moses  Kunitzer,9  named  for  the  city  from  which  the 
family  originally  came,  is  one  of  the  few  rabbis  of 

7Katalog  der  hebr.     Handschriften,   p.   12,   Berlin   1878. 

8His  work  Dibre  Pene  Aryeh,  Vienna,  1859,  Duckesz, 
Chachme  A.  H.  W.  p.  142,  Hamburg,  1908. 

9Jewish  Encycl.  vii,  583,  and  the  Title  page  of  Ben  Yohai, 
Vienna,  1815. 


13 


the  old  type,  who  indorsed  the  reform  temple  in 
Hamburg. 

As  the  name  Wannefried  points  to  a  city  in  the 
province  of  Hesse-Cassel,  so  the  name  Deutsch  may 
be  a  convenient  substitute  for  a  town  in  western 
Germany,  from  which  the  Bahur  derived  his  name, 
who  married  the  daughter  of  the  rabbi.  The  name 
of  the  town  may  have  been  too  difficult  for  the 
people  of  Kanitz  to  remember,  and  they  called  him 
for  short,  Deutsch.  At  any  rate,  this  family  name 
appears  as  the  signature  of  the  man  in  the  congrega- 
tional records  in  1719,10  and  also  on  the  tombstone, 
though  legal  family  names  were  not  introduced  in 
Austria,  until  1787. 

Of  the  sons  of  Joseph  Deutsch  one,  probably  the 
youngest,  Menahem  Mandl,  survived  his  father 
fully  eighty  years.  He  died  in  advanced  age,  as  his 
tombstone  testifies,  Kislev  10,  564  (Nov.  25,  1803). 
He  occupied  in  the  little  community  the  office  of 
Dayan,  or  member  of  the  rabbinical  court,  who 
probably  acted  merely  in  cases,  when  such  a  court  was 
required,  especially  in  probating  estates.  I  possess 
several  books  with  the  German  inscription,  Mandl 
Joseph  Deutsch,  Judenjurist  in  Kanitz.  They  pre- 
sent probably  practice  in  penmanship  indulged  in  by 
some  Bahur,  who  had  learned  to  read  and  to  write 
German.  Mandl  married  his  cousin,  Liebele, 
the  daughter  of  Hananel,  who  also  was  a  son-in-law 
of  Rabbi  Jacob  Eliezer.  This  Hananel  is  the  son  of 
a  Rabbi  Judah  Loeb,  in  whom  I  believe  I  recognize 
the  rabbi  of  Hotzenplotz,  who  was  the  son  of  the 

10\Volf:    Die   alten   Statuten   der   judischen    Gemeinden    in 
Maehren,  p.  146,  Vienna.  1880. 


14  SCROLLS 

famous  Cabbalist,  Elhanan  of  Vienna,  and  the 
brother  of  Issachar  Baer,  rabbi  of  Frankfurt  an  der 
Oder,  and  of  Kremsier,  who  died  in  1701  in  Venice  on 
his  way  to  Palestine,  where  he  expected  to  end  his 
days11. 

Mandl  had  only  one  son,  Zalman  Wolf,  or  with  his 
official  name,  Jekuthiel  Zeeb,  who  was  born  about 
1755,  and  died  January  13,  1829.  Of  him  I  have  a 
number  of  documents  in  my  possession,  which  have 
escaped  the  destructive  influences  of  time.  As  I 
shall  say  more  about  him  in  a  German  essay,  sent  to 
Germany  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  I  briefly  note 
that  he  studied  at  the  Yeshibah  of  Rabbi  Schmelka 
Horwitz,  the  brother  of  the  famous  Rabbi  Phineas 
Horwitz  of  Frankfort  a.  M.,  who  held  the  rabbinical 
position  of  Nikolsburg,  with  the  chief  rabbinate  of 
Moravia,  from  1773-1778.  The  letters,  written  to 
his  first  wife,  when  he  was  engaged  to  her,  to  his 
prospective  father-in-law,  and  his  marriage  contract, 
and  finally  his  record  as  Mohel  are  now  historic 
documents.  He  began  to  practice  in  1777  continuing 
for  forty-two  years.  The  last  entry  is  the  birth  of  my 
father,  and  his  induction  into  the  covenant  of  Abraham, 
In  my  childhood,  I  remember  having  seen  some 
documents  relating  to  Zalman  Wolf's  second 
marriage  to  one  Hannah,  the  daughter  of  Moses 
of  Nachod,  Bohemia.  Of  the  five  sons,  who  were 
born  of  this  marriage,  the  third,  named  for  the 
famous  ancestor  Eliezer  (Lazar)  was  born  December 
22,  1787.  He  married  in  1818  a  second  cousin, 
Juetel,  the  daughter  of  Issachar  Baer,  officially 

"Frankl-Griin:     Geschichte  der  Juden  in  Kremsier,   I,  81, 
Breslau,  1896. 


INTRODUCTION  15 


Bernhard  Deutsch.  This  Bernhard  Deutsch  was  a 
tenant  of  the  large  estate  owner,  Count  Salm-Reiffer- 
scheid,  of  Raitz,  Moravia,  and  therefore  called  Baer 
Raitz.  Such  a  tenant  "Bestandmann,"  as  he  was 
officially  called,  or  Randar,  as  he  was  called  more 
colloquially,  was  usually  a  well-to-do  man.  I  re- 
member various  rare  books  from  his  library,  and 
glassware  with  his  initials,  which  was  quite  a  luxury 
in  those  days.  Baer  Raitz  died  in  1818,  shortly 
after  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  and  my  father, 
the  first  child  of  his  parents,  born  January  2,  1819, 
was  according  to  the  entry  in  the  Mohel's  record  of 
his  grandfather,  Zalman  Wolf,  circumcised  on  the 
holy  Sabbath,  the  12th  of  Tebeth,  579.  The  old  man, 
as  he  afterwards  told  my  father,  asked  for  this  as  a 
special  favor  so  that  he  should  close  his  career  with 
the  induction  of  a  grandchild  into  the  covenant  of 
Abraham.  This  entry  is  the  last  one  in  the  Mohel's 
record,  which  began  forty-two  years  before  in  1777. 
The  grandfather  remained  in  the  house  of  his  son,  and 
as  my  father  was  ten  years  old,  when  his  grandfather 
died,  he  owes  to  him  many  recollections  of  older 
family  history,  which  he  transmitted  to  me.  After 
the  death  of  the  grandfather,  adversity  began  in  the 
household.  The  right  to  conduct  the  tobacco  shop, 
which  was,  and  still  is,  in  Austria  a  government 
monopoly,  ceased  after  the  death  of  the  man  who  had 
received  this  privilege.  My  grandfather  had  begun 
a  wine  business,  and  obtained  from  the  congregation 
a  monopoly  for  the  sale  of  kosher  wine.  The  rabbi 
of  the  congregation,  Joseph  Spiro  (Jew.  Knc.  xi,  523), 
a  highly  interesting  character,  was  opposed  to  this 


16  SCROLLS 

arrangement.  His  objections  were  strictly  religious. 
He  declared  that  such  a  monopoly  might  induce 
occasionally  a  man,  who  for  some  reason  or  other  did 
not  wish  to  patronize  the  monopolist,  to  drink  wine 
that  was  not  kosher.  In  those  days  dietary  laws  were 
far  more  seriously  observed  than  even  in  the  time 
of  my  childhood,  when  the  drinking  of  wine  that  was 
not  kosher  had  already  become  a  pardonable  offense. 
There  was,  however,  another  reason  which  con- 
tributed to  my  grandfather's  ruin  in  business.  The 
abrogation  of  the  special  Jewish  tax,  decreed  by  the 
humane  Emperor  Joseph  II,  had  in  a  certain  respect 
imposed  a  heavier  yoke  on  the  much  oppressed 
Austrian  Jews.  Instead  of  the  special  tax  (Schutz- 
geld)  a  new  tax  on  all  victuals  was  introduced.  The 
kosher  meat,  fish  and  kosher  wine,  were  all  sub- 
ject to  excise  tax.  For  all  such  articles  bought,  the 
merchant  or,  if  they  were  bought  in  the  market,  the 
householder,  had  to  buy  a  ticket  which  the  Contractor 
of  the  Jew-tax  sold.  My  grandfather  had  imported 
quite  a  large  consignment  of  wine  from  Nikolsburg 
and  failed  to  pay  the  excise  tax.  A  coreligionist,  as 
usually  was  the  case  in  those  days,  when  Jews  lived 
under  restrictive  laws,  reported  the  matter,  and  when 
the  consignment  of  wine  arrived  at  the  storehouse, 
revenue  officers  were  in  waiting,  and  asked  for  the 
receipt  of  the  Jew  tax.  As  these  receipts  could  not 
be  produced,  the  whole  consignment  was  seized  and 
an  excessive  fine  imposed  upon  my  grandfather. 
He  did  not  pay  it  at  once,  but  went  into  litigation, 
showing  that  there  was  an  oversight  in  importing 
this  wine,  but  in  the  end  the  litigation  and  the  reduced 
fine  imposed  upon  him,  broke  him  up  in  business, 


INTRODUCTION  17 


and  from  that  time  on  until  the  end  of  his  days,  he 
supported  himself  like  all  the  poor  people  of  our 
section  of  the  country,  peddling  in  villages,  and  utiliz- 
ing his  knowledge  of  rabbinic  law,  by  acting  as  Shochet 
in  the  surrounding  villages  for  the  Jews  living  there. 
He  died  March  25,  1856,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight. 
Had  he  lived  to  a  greater  age  I  might  perhaps  be  in 
better  position  to  relate  some  of  the  incidents  of 
Jewish  life  in  the  first  part  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
According  to  my  father's  report,  my  grandfather 
attended  the  Yeshibah  of  Jenikau,  Bohemia,  and  was 
probably  a  disciple  of  Marcus  Baer  Kornfeld,  who 
again  was  a  disciple  of  Ezekiel  Laudau,  and  is  men- 
tioned in  the  latter's  Responsa.1'2  Aaron,  the  son  of 
Marcus  Baer  Kornfeld  (1795-1881)  was  the  last 
principal  of  a  Yeshibah  in  Bohemia,13  and  this  fact 
is  so  much  the  more  important  because  the  family 
had  maintained  a  Yeshibah  for  a  number  of  genera- 
tions, the  principal  of  the  Yeshibah  not  being  a  rabbi, 
but  supported  himself  with  a  distillery,  and  a  man  in 
fairly  good  circumstances.  With  Aaron  Kornfeld  a 
generation  died  out,  which  marked  the  last  of  a  long 
series,  probably  going  back  to  the  twelfth  century. 
Aaron  Kornfeld 's  nephew,  Baron  Sigmund  Kornfeld 
(1852-1909)  was  a  bank  president  in  Budapest  and 
member  of  the  house  of  magnates.  Though  to  some 
extent  a  conforming  Jew,  he  surely  was  not  in  a 
position  any  more  to  preside  over  a  Yeshibah,  nor  will 
his  children  ever  be  capable  of  such  professional 
work. 


»Xoda  bi-Yehudah,  Yoreh  Deah,  II,  13. 
"Jewish    Encycl.    VII,   562,    May:     Isaac   Mayer   Wise,    p. 
28-29,  New  York/1916. 


18  SCROLLS 

My  father  was  educated  already  in  a  somewhat 
modern  fashion.  In  his  very  early  childhood  days, 
when  his  parents  were,  according  to  the  reckoning  of 
their  environment,  prosperous,  he  had  a  private 
teacher,  one  of  those  men,  who  being  educated  in 
Prague,  at  the  Yeshibah,  were  imbued  with  the 
spirit  which  in  this  pioneer  city  of  Austrian  "Auf- 
klaerung"  worked  with  almost  fanatic  zeal  for  the 
spreading  of  secular  knowledge,  under  the  guidance 
of  such  men  as  Herz  Homberg  and  Peter  Beer.  So 
my  father  was  taught  in  earliest  childhood  to  read 
and  write  German  and  received  instruction  in  other 
elementary  branches.  Naturally  at  the  same  time 
he  received  thorough  Hebrew  instruction.  When 
he  was  eleven  years  old,  the  congregation  elected  a 
new  rabbi,  and  my  grandfather  being  at  that  time 
president  of  the  congregation,  took  a  special  interest 
in  this  affair,  because  his  boy  at  the  age  of  eleven  was 
just  ripe  for  higher  instruction  in  Talmudic  literature. 
The  man  elected  was  Marcus  Trieschet,  a  disciple  of 
Mordecai  Benet,  and  a  son  of  a  rabbi  of  Maehrisch 
Weisskirchen,  Abraham  Reinitz,  quoted  as  such  in 
the  few  extant  responsa  of  Benet  (Har-Hamor,  p.  29, 
Vienna  1862).  I  have  on  various  occasions  in  the 
"Deborah"  (1901-1902)  and  in  the  "B'nai  B'rith 
News"  (1914  et  seq.)  given  some  stories  about  the 
man's  career,  whom  I  knew  personally  as  a  child. 
He  died  Aug.  6,  1866,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two. 
Partly  because  my  father  did  not  make  sufficient 
progress  under  the  new  teacher,  and  partly  because 
it  was  a  general  habit,  mentioned  already  in  the 
Talmud  at  the  time  Judah  Hanasi,14  he  was  sent  to 
14Yer.  Pesahim,  III,  7. 


INTRODUCTION  19 


another  place  to  continue  his  studies  at  a  Yeshibah. 
His  first  college — if  we  may  use  this  term — was  the 
Yeshibah  of  Baer  Oppenheim  in  Eibenschuetz,  a 
town  about  six  miles  distant  from  Kanitz.  Baer 
Oppenheim  ( 1 790-1 859) 15  was  a  member  of  the 
famous  rabbinical  family  of  that  name,  and  a  lineal 
descendant  of  David  Oppenheim,  chief  rabbi  of 
Prague  and  founder  of  that  marvellous  collection  of 
Hebrew  books  which  is  still  the  pride  of  the  Bod- 
leyan  library  at  Oxford.  He  is  also  known  as  the 
father-in-law  of  Isaac  Hirsch  Weiss,  and  two  of  his 
sons,  David  (1816-1876)  and  Joachim  (1832-1890) 
have  made  a  reputation  in  rabbinic  literature.  Rabbi 
Baer  Oppenheim  does  not  seem  to  have  been  in  any- 
way a  remarkable  personality.  The  life  in  such  a 
Yeshibah  was  one  of  privation.  I  remember  that 
my  father  told  me  that  he,  like  almost  every  one  of 
those  students,  subsisted  on  the  free  meals  given 
by  charitable  members  of  the  congregation.  As  there 
were,  howrever,  more  applicants  than  givers,  his  meals 
were  restricted  to  four  a  week.  During  the  other 
three  days  he  had  to  help  himself  the  best  he  could, 
mostly  subsisting  on  a  weekly  loaf  of  bread,  which 
he  received  from  his  home.  How  grudgingly  these 
meals  were  given  he  illustrated  by  various  stories. 
Of  the  four  meals  that  he  received,  two  were  given 
by  charitable  women,  alwrays  more  in  sympathy  with 
a  child  away  from  home  than  men,  without  the 
knowledge  of  their  husbands,  who  spent  the  week 
peddling  in  the  country.  My  father  told  me  what 
terror  once  reigned,  wrhen  a  child  of  the  family,  while 

"Jewish  Encycl,  IX,  410. 


20  SCROLLS 

he  and  another  boy  were  eating,  came  running  in  and 
said,  "Mother,  send  the  'Bocherlech'  away;  father  is 
coming  home." 

The  same  conditions  prevailed  in  other  places, 
where  my  father  attended  the  Yeshibah,  like  Pohr- 
litz  and  in  Nikolsburg.  In  the  latter  city  he  arrived  in 
1834,  five  years  after  the  death  of  the  most  illustrious 
among  the  rabbis  of  the  old  type,  Mordecai  Benet, 
or  Marcus  Benedikt.*  The  Yeshibah  was  then  al- 
ready declining,  although  Benedikt's  successor,  Nehe- 
mias  Trebitsch,16  was  a  man  of  exactly  the  same  type 
as  his  predecessor.  Secularism  had  already  seized 
the  population  of  Moravia,  perhaps  due  to  the  in- 
fluences which  the  French  July  Revolution  of  1830 
had  on  all  of  western  Europe,  and  when  I,  in  1868, 
arrived  in  the  same  city,  where  my  father  attended  a 
Yeshibah  that  then  counted  several  hundred  young 
men  I  did  not  find  any  trace  of  it,  nor  was  there  any 
trace  of  old  fashioned  rabbinic  studies  among  the 
Jews  in  Pohrlitz  and  other  small  towns  of  Moravia. 
My  father  did  not  attend  the  Yeshibah  of  the  Land- 
rabbiner  Trebitsch,  but  that  of  a  member  of  the 
rabbinate,  Dayan  Samuel  Kohn,  whose  son,  Moses 
Loeb,  occupied  the  same  position,  when  I  first  went 
to  Nikolsburg,  in  1868.  Moses  Loeb  Kohn,  who  died 
May  9,  1890,  at  the  age  of  sixty-four,  was  the  last 
representative  of  the  old  Nikolsburg  rabbinate.  He 
edited  and  published  a  few  rabbinic  works,  and  was 
also  a  contributor  to  the  Hebrew  weekly  "Hamagid." 
An  idea  of  old-fashioned  rabbinism,  as  it  affected 
social  life,  is  pictured  in  the  following  recollections: 
My  father  preserved  a  grateful  memory  for  his 
"Jewish  Encycl.  XII,  238. 


INTRODUCTION  21 


teacher,  and  when  he  brought  me  to  Xikolsburg,  he 
called  on  Rabbi  Moses  Loeb  to  introduce  himself  as 
one  who  had  been  his  father's  pupil,  thirty-four  years 
ago.  Moses  Loeb  received  this  information  with  a 
sneering  look  and  a  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  peculiar 
to  Beth  Hamidrash  habits,  saying,  "\Vhy,  thirty-four 
years  ago,  you  attended  my  father's  Yeshibah. 
Where  was  I  then?  Perhaps  not  even  born."  I  do 
not  believe  that  this  was  done  with  a  desire  of  insult- 
ing my  father.  It  was  simply  the  ill  manners, 
habitual  in  the  Yeshibah,  and  cultivated  on  principle 
by  those  people  of  the  transition  period,  who  con- 
sidered good  manners  a  sort  of  religious  reform. 
After  having  served,  as  the  Bahur  of  the  Yeshibah 
usually  did,  in  maturer  years,  as  tutor  my  father 
settled  in  his  native  town,  and  married.  In  1846 
marriage  was  quite  a  coveted  privilege  in  Moravia.17 
My  father  had  the  advantage  of  being  a  first-born 
son,  and  in  addition  marrried  the  daughter  of  a  man 
who  stood  very  high  in  the  government  circles, 
which,  of  course,  does  not  mean  very  much,  because 
it  was  usually  due  to  the  fact  that  he  was  the  trans- 
mitter of  bribes  to  the  all-powerful  "Oberamtmann." 
My  maternal  grandfather,  Issachar  Baer  Halevi.  with 
his  official  name  Benedikt  Wiener,  who  died  November 
27,  1853,  at  the  age  of  about  ninety,  was  as  the  name 
indicates,  in  all  probability  a  descendant  of  one  of  the 
families  that  were  exiled  from  Vienna  in  the  expulsion 
of  1670.  His  wife,  Chajah  Leah,  who  died  August 
30,  1849,  was  the  daughter  of  one  Mendel  I'lma.  and 
one  Nathan  Tlma  Kunitz,  who  died  at  Berlin  in 
1733,  is  mentioned  as  the  son-in-law  of  one  of  those 
17See:  Jewish  Encyclopedia  article  "Familiantcn." 


22  SCROLLS 

Vienna  exiles  who  established  the  Berlin  congrega- 
tion in  167 1.18  The  name  would  indicate  that  the 
family  originated  from  those  exiles  of  Ulm,  who  were 
expelled  in  1499,  and  are  found  all  over  Europe. 
They  may  in  those  days  have  drifted  to  Vienna,  have 
gone  from  there  at  some  later  period  to  the  little 
town  of  Kanitz,  called  in  Yiddish  Kunitz,  and  have 
gone  back  to  Vienna,  when  with  the  general  expulsion 
they  sought,  like  most  of  the  exiles,  the  ancient  home 
of  their  families  in  the  neighboring  province  of 
Moravia.  This  is  stated  to  show  how  great  a  loss  is 
suffered  by  the  lack  of  attention  to  old  family  records, 
and  by  the  neglect  to  write  personal  memoirs.  My 
maternal  grandparents  had  sixteen  children,  fourteen 
of  whom,  four  sons  and  ten  daughters,  grew  up  to 
manhood  and  womanhood,  and  it  is  quite  interesting 
to  note  that  there  is  only  one  young  man  living  who 
is  the  bearer  of  the  family  name  of  Wiener,  and  he  is 
at  present  fighting  at  the  front. 

My  father  lost  his  first  wife  a  few  months  after  their 
marriage,  and  married  in  1848,  her  sister.  The  three 
children  who  were  born  of  this  marriage,  died  in 
infancy,  and  their  mother  followed  them  to  the  grave 
in  1854.  In  1856  my  father  married  a  third  sister, 
my  mother,  who  survived  him  for  over  twenty-one 
years.  My  mother's  real  name,  by  which  she  was 
known  as  a  child,  was  Liebele,  but  as  long  as  I  can 
remember,  she  was  called  Lisi,  and  she  signed  her 
name  "Elise."  In  the  official  birth  records  of  the 
community  her  name  is  entered  as  "Elenora."  This, 
I  suppose,  was  due  to  the  registrar  of  the  congrega- 

18Landshuth:  Vollst.    Gebets-und   Andachtsbuch,  Appendix, 
p.  21,  Berlin  ,1867. 


INTRODUCTION  23 


tion,  Reb  Yaykev  Shammes,  who  obeyed  the  law, 
dating  from  Joseph  II,  which  demanded  that  the 
Jews  should  adopt  names  which  would  not  create 
such  a  difficulty  in  transliteration  as  did  the  usual 
Yiddish  names.19  My  mother  was  born  April  5, 
1819,  and  died  in  her  ninety-third  year.  September 
25,  1911.  The  first  child  of  this  marriage  was  my 
only  surviving  sister,  born  November  24,  1857,  who 
was  named  for  the  grandmother,  Chajah  Leah,  but 
was  always  called  merely  Leah.  I,  born  January  31, 
1859,  was  named  for  my  paternal  grandfather, 
Eliezer,  and  my  father,  somewhat  of  a  purist  in 
Hebrew,  and  a  romanticist  in  religion,  wished  to 
have  my  name  registered  according  to  the  Biblical 
spelling,  but  the  principal  of  the  Jewish  school, 
Solomon  Schuetz,  a  modernist  afterwards  principal 
of  the  Jewish  school  of  Czernowitz,-0  suggested  that 
such  a  name  would  stigmatize  the  child  in  his  future 
career,  and  instead  of  calling  me,  as  my  grandfather 
was  officially  called,  Lazar,  the  approximate  transla- 
tion into  Gotthard,  was  proposed,  and  adopted. 

At  what  age  I  was  sent  to  school,  I  do  not  exactly 
know,  but  I  was  certainly  not  older  than  five.  I  re- 
member having  had  a  primer,  specially  bound  for  me. 
with  a  dedication  dated  1864,  and  I  also  remember 
that  an  uncle  of  my  mother  "der  Yetter  Loeb"  with 
his  official  name,  Loebel  Samek,  who  died  early  in 
1865,  used  to  supervise  my  reading  of  the  prayers  in 
the  synagog.  Yetter  Loeb,  who  was  already  in  the 

"Law  of  Oct.  11,  1787.  Cramer:  Gesetzessammlung,  t-tc. 
p.  256,  Prague,  1793. 

^Israelitsch — Deutsche  Schule  in  Czernowitz.  Czernowitz, 
1905. 


24  SCROLLS 

eighties  then,  was  a  pious  old  soul,  who  always 
remained  in  the  synagogue  on  Sabbath  morning, 
when  services  were  over,  to  do  a  little  extra  praying 
from  the  optional  liturgy,  saw  to  it  that  I  read  cor- 
rectly, and  did  not  "ueberhuppern"  (skip).  After- 
wards, when  I  had  done  well,  he  took  me  to  his 
home,  where  I  received  my  "Shabbes  Obst,"  which 
consisted  of  grapes  and  plums  which  he  knew 
to  keep  during  the  whole  winter.  Our  Jewish  school 
was  founded  in  1852  with  David  Loewy  (1821-1902)21, 
during  his  last  years  editor  of  the  "Neuzeit"  in  Vienna, 
as  principal.  Previous  to  that  time,  although  the 
law  of  Joseph  II,  issued  in  1782,  demanded  that 
every  Jewish  child  should  receive  a  secular  education, 
the  school  was  conducted  in  the  old  Heder  fashion, 
the  teacher  gathering  the  children  that  were  entrusted 
to  him,  in  his  home  and  giving  them  secular,  as  well 
as  Hebrew  instruction.  The  year  1848  seems  to  have 
stimulated  interest  in  systematic  and  secular  educa- 
tion, and  the  congregation  erected  a  school  building, 
which  at  the  same  time  served  to  house  the  rabbi 
and  the  principal,  and  had  a  room  for  the  office  of  the 
congregation  which  then  had,  and  probably  still  has, 
municipal  jurisdiction  over  the  former  ghetto  section 
of  the  old  town.  The  palmy  days  of  this  congrega- 
tion were  over,  when  I  entered  school.  The  freedom 
of  residence  granted  in  1848  began  to  drain  the  con- 
gregation, attracting  the  more  enterprising  and 
younger  element  to  the  near-by  city  of  Bruenn,  where 
even  in  former  years  a  great  many  people  made  their 
living  as  peddlers,  and  sellers  of  country  produce  and 
the  like.  Others  scattered  among  villages  or  went  to 
"Deborah,  1902,  p.  161-164. 


INTRODUCTION  25 

some  smaller  towns,  formerly  closed  to  the  Jews. 
A  terrible  flood  which  visited  our  town,  February  1, 
1862,  and  did  great  damage  in  the  Jewish  quarter, 
also  aided  the  exodus,  for  many  people,  whose  homes 
had  been  destroyed,  preferred  to  make  their  homes 
elsewhere,  instead  of  rebuilding  their  former  homes. 
So  when  I  entered  school,  there  were  hardly  more 
than  sixty  children  enrolled,  who  were  divided  into 
three  classes.  The  beginner's  class  was  in  charge  of 
a  young  man,  who  received  a  small  salary  of  100 
florins,  if  I  remember  correctly,  and  was  given  free 
board,  taking  his  meals  alternately  every  week  in 
one  of  the  more  prosperous  families.  The  second 
grade  was  in  charge  of  an  old-fashioned  Melammed, 
Mandl  Brunner,  a  native  of  our  town,  who  had  the 
usual  career  of  a  Bahur,  having  attended  the  Yeshibah 
of  Nikolsburg,  of  which  he  retained  the  proud  memory 
that  he  was  present  at  the  last  lecture,  delivered  by 
the  old  Landrabbiner,  Markus  Benedikt,  before  he 
left  for  Karlsbad,  where  he  died  August  13.  1829. 
Brunner  afterwards  married,  engaged  in  some  busi- 
ness, failed,  and  therefore  became  a  teacher.  He 
was  an  autodidact,  spoke  German  incorrectly,  and 
had  the  manners  of  the  old-fashioned  Melammed, 
who  considered  the  rod  the  most  efficient  instrument  of 
pedagogy.  I  remember  distinctly  that  we  learned  a 
verb  was  a  part  of  speech  which  expresses  a  "Thon  oder 
Lassen."  It  was  always  a  puzzle  to  me  what  kind  of 
a  tone  a  verb  represented.  \Ye  also  studied  with  him 
the  Minor  Prophets.  Xo  small  task  for  a  class  of 
children  about  eight  years  old!  One  of  the  typical 
recollections  that  I  have  preserved  is  the  translation 


26  SCROLLS 

of  Hosea  4,  14,  "Nur  ein  unvernuenftiges  Volk 
kann  solchen  Oberwitz  hegen,"  which  was  due 
to  a  misreading  of  the  translation  in  Hebrew  charac- 
ters instead  of  "Aberwitz."  The  word  "Oberwitz," 
corresponding  to  the  Yiddish  "Ober  Chochme,"  was 
evidently  more  intelligible  to  Reb  Mandl,  than  the 
high  German  "Aberwitz."  It  would  be  an  injustice 
to  convey  the  idea  that  the  teacher  was  not  devoted 
to  his  calling.  The  main  trouble  was  that  he  was 
overworked,  teaching  nine  or  ten  hours  a  day,  and 
inadequately  prepared.  The  highest  grade  was  in 
charge  of  the  principal,  of  whom  I  remember  first  a 
man  named  Moses  Kobler,  a  kindly  intelligent  man 
of  the  "Maskil"  class,  who  published  occasionally 
some  exegetical  notes  in  the  then  popular  periodical 
"Kokebe  Yizhak."  After  him  we  had  a  young, 
modern  man,  named  Kohut.  The  instruction  in 
Hebrew  formed  part  of  the  curriculum,  and  occupied 
three  or  four  hours  daily.  In  addition  I,  whom  my 
father  had  destined  to  become  a  Hebrew  scholar, 
received  private  instruction,  partly  by  the  teacher, 
and  partly  by  himself.  At  the  age  of  six,  my  father 
began  to  instruct  me  in  Mishnah.  It  is  a  puzzle  to 
me  today  how  a  child  could  grasp  the  intricate 
problems  of  the  Mishnah,  including  the  commentary 
of  Bertinoro.  But  I  have  since  found  on  my  visits 
to  eastern  Europe,  and  also  to  some  of  the  Talmud- 
torahs  in  the  United  States  that  boys  of  eight  studied 
more  difficult  parts  of  the  Talmud.  As  a  specimen 
of  the  instruction  I  give  the  following  translation  of  a 
passage  in  Bertinoro's  commentary  to  the  first  chapter 
of  Berakot.  f?  y»B>»  «|p  NITYIK  2JX  «n^o  "Der  Tanne 


INTRODUCTION  27 


laesst  mich  bei  dieser  Gelegenheit  einen  neuen  Din 
hoeren."  On  my  seventh  birthday,  I  was  presented 
as  a  paragon  before  an  invited  audience  of  friends  to 
recite  the  first  two  chapters  of  the  Mishnah. 

At  the  age  of  eight,  I  received  instruction,  together 
with  a  small  class  of  boys,  in  Talmud  from  our  new 
rabbi,  Dr.  M.  H.  Friedlaender.  Our  old  rabbi, 
Markus  Trieschet  who  had  held  his  office  for  thirty-six 
years,  died  August  6,  1866,  of  the  cholera,  which 
then  ravaged  our  town,  due  to  the  invading  Prussian 
army,  which  made  of  the  school  building  a  military 
hospital.  I  remember  the  old  rabbi  quite  distinctly, 
for  my  father  took  me  usually  with  him  on  Sabbath 
afternoon  when  the  rabbi  held  his  "Shiur"  (lecture) 
to  a  circle  of  six  men,  all  of  whom  have  since  died 
without  finding  any  successors.  The  rabbi  also  used 
to  examine  me  in  my  Bible  lessons,  which  was  done 
for  the  sake  of  encouragement,  and  I  used  to  bring 
him  every  day,  the  "Xeue  Freie  Presse,"  usually 
with  the  message  of  the  most  important  ne\vs.  A 
daily  paper  was  then  a  luxury,  and  as  a  rule,  two  or 
three  people  formed  a  club  to  subscribe  for  it.  My 
last  recollection  is  that  I  brought  him  the  message 
that  armistice  was  declared. 

His  successor  was  elected  in  the  following  year. 
Dr.  M.  H.  Friedlaneder,  born  in  18.S9,  in  Bur  St. 
Georgen,  Hungary,  is  the  brother  of  the  well  known 
writer  on  Hellenistic  literature,  Moritz  Friedlaender. 
He  was  naturally  the  first  modern  rabbi  that  we  had, 
and  the  sign  on  his  door  "Dr.  M.  H.  Friedlaender, 
Rabbiner  and  Prediger"  impressed  me  very  strongly. 
With  him  came  some  reforms.  The  "Schulrufen," 


28  SCROLLS 

which  means  that  the  sexton  went  Friday  evening 
before  dark  through  the  ghetto,  calling  "Kabbolas 
Shabbos,"  and  on  Saturday  morning  and  afternoon 
calling  "In  Schul" — had  become  obnoxious,  and  was 
a  mere  habit,  because  quite  a  number  of  people  lived 
then  outside  of  the  ghetto.  The  daily  "Schulkloppen," 
the  knocking  at  every  door  to  announce  the  beginning 
of  services  on  week  days,  had  already  been  abolished 
before  my  time,  though  I  do  remember  the  old 
Shammes  Mordche,  who  died  in  1883,  at  the  age  of 
ninety-eight,  and  ordered  that  the  wooden  hammer, 
which  he  had  used  in  announcing  the  beginning  of 
services,  be  placed  in  his  coffin.  It  was  to  be  his 
credential  in  heaven.  No  matter,  how  much  of  a 
sinner  he  may  have  been,  he  had  done  something  good 
in  his  life.  Another  reform  was  the  abrogation  of  the 
"Piyutim,"  against  which  some  of  the  older  elements 
grumbled,  but  they  finally  submitted.  A  choir  of 
boys  had  existed  already  before  my  time.  It  seems 
strange  that  one  who  stood  for  reform,  should  organize 
a  class  in  Talmud  studies.  I  do  not  think,  it  lasted 
very  long,  and  at  any  rate,  I  was  the  only  one  who 
continued  the  studies  after  leaving  school. 

The  Austrian  primary  school,  up  to  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  the  educational  system  by  a  new  school  law, 
issued  in  1868,  consisted  of  four  grades.  As  our  school 
had  only  three  grades,  I  had  to  pass  an  examination  at 
a  "Hauptschule,"  for  which  Nikolsburg  was  chosen. 
The  school  of  Nikolsburg,  established  in  1839,  during 
the  lifetime  of  the  Landrabbiner,  Nehemias  Trebitsch, 
of  whom  Leopold  Loew  reports  that  he  entered  upon 
his  office  with  a  determination,  "to  weed  out  the  Ger- 


29 


man  with  the  roots,"22  was  under  the  supervision  of 
Dr.  Moritz  Eisler  (1823-1904)  well  known  as  a  writer 
on  Jewish  philosophy.  The  examination  in  which  a 
few  other  boys  and  girls  took  part,  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  a  very  severe  one.  I  suppose  it  would  have 
been  very  unprofessional  for  Dr.  Eisler  to  "flunk"  a 
class  of  boys  prepared  by  a  Jewish  colleague.  On  the 
ground  of  this  certificate  of  examination,  I  was 
admitted  as  a  "Privatist"  to  the  Gymnasium  of 
Nikolsburg.  Being  only  nine  years  old,  my  father 
felt  that  I  was  too  young  to  be  sent  away  from  home, 
and  therefore  he  made  an  arrangement  with  another 
family  in  our  town,  having  a  boy  of  about  my  age, 
to  engage  a  private  teacher,  wrho  should  prepare  us 
for  the  semi-annual  examinations,  wrhich  non-resident 
students  had  to  undergo.  The  Austrian  "Gymnas- 
ium" had  and  probably  still  has  eight  grades  and  re- 
quires semi-annual  examinations,  of  which  only  the 
second  one  is  decisive  for  promotion.  Our  teacher  was 
Emil  Auspitzer,  then  a  student  of  the  seventh  grade 
of  the  "Gymnasium"  at  Bruenn,  who  in  addition  to 
teaching  us,  had  to  prepare  himself  for  his  semi- 
annual examination.  He  was  the  son  of  an  ex-Hazan, 
Kalman  Judah  Loew  Auspitzer,  who  was  a  native  of 
Nikolsburg,  and  probably  a  lineal  descendant  of  the 
heretic  by  the  same  name,  whom  Jacob  Emden  enum- 
erates amongst  the  followers  of  the  Sabbathai  Zebi 
sect  in  his  days.  Emil  Auspitzer  subsequently  convert- 
ed to  Roman  Catholicism,  marrying  the  daughter  of  a 
high  government  official,  and  after  a  brief  career  in 
the  state  service  worked  for  some  business  organiza- 
tion as  political  economist,  and  to  judge  by  Siegmund 
^Gesammelte  Schriften,  II,  204,  Szegedins,  1890. 


30  SCROLLS 

Mayer's  memoirs,23  did  not  come  up  to  the  expectations 
which  his  brilliant  mind  seemed  to  justify.  He  died 
at  Teplitz,  January  26,  1908,  at  the  age  of  fifty-seven. 
While  I  received  this  instruction,  I  naturally  continued 
my  Hebrew  studies,  partly  under  the  guidance  of  my 
father  and  partly  under  the  instruction  of  our  local 
rabbi.  In  this  way  I  finished  the  work  of  the  first 
two  grades  of  the  "Gymnasium,"  and  in  the  fall  of 
1870  entered  the  third  grade  as  regular  student. 

Nikolsburg,  at  one  time  not  only  the  largest 
congregation  of  Moravia,  numbering  3,400  souls  in  a 
population  of  8,000,  but  also  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent congregations  of  the  German  empire,  was,  when 
I  first  saw  it,  already  declining.  Yet  it  impressed  me 
as  a  metropolis,  with  its  ten  synagogues,  of  which 
in  1868  four  were  closed.  Its  Jewish  life  was  intense. 
It  was  during  the  "ten  days  of  pentience"  when  I 
first  arrived,  and  the  main  street  of  the  ghetto  was 
crowded  with  people  going  to  the  evening  services. 
I  was  also  deeply  impressed  by  the  really  beautiful 
Altschul  withits  four-domed  ceiling,andits"Almemor" 
surrounded  by  four  marble  pillars,  as  also  by  the 
Hazan,  Kalman  Loeb  Maas,  who  had  a  fine  baritone 
voice,  and  in  addition  to  his  office,  conducted  a  jewelry 
shop.  Entirely  new  to  me  was  also  the  Beth  Hem- 
idrash,  with  its  three  rooms,  of  which  one  was  re- 
served to  a  library  of  Cabbalistic  books,  inspiring  the 
boy  with  awe  for  the  deep  mystery  which  this  name 
conveyed.  It  was  for  the  sake  of  this  Jewish  atmos- 
phere that  my  father  seleced  Nikolsburg,  instead  of  the 

23Ein  JuediseherKaufmann,  1831-1911.  Lebenserrinnerungen 
Leipsic,  1911. 


INTRODUCTION  31 

much  nearer  and  more  accessible  city  of  Bruenn  for 
my  education. 

The  "Gymnasium"  was  then  still  conducted  by  a 
monastic  order,  the  "Piaristen"  officially  called  the 
"priests  of  the  pious  schools  of  the  Mother  of  God." 
This  order  which  was  established  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  was  intended  to  bring  a  more  liberal  spirit 
into  Catholic  education  and  to  counteract  the  narrower 
principles  of  the  Jesuits,  previously  possessing  almost 
a  monopoly  of  education.  Moravia,  as  is  known 
through  the  Moravian  Brethern  of  the  United  States, 
was  in  the  seventeenth  century,  the  seat  of  an  active 
Protestant  propaganda.  Cardinal  Prince  Francis  von 
Dietrichstein  (1570-1636)  was  a  member  of  the  house 
which  owned  the  estate  of  Xikolsburg,  and  in  his 
influential  position  as  governor  of  Moravia,  after  the 
defeat  of  the  Protestant  party,  in  the  battle  of  the 
White  Mountain,  1620,  went  to  work  with  the  object 
of  suppressing  Protestantism.  For  this  purpose,  he 
established  the  first  colony  of  the  new  order,  outside 
of  Italy  in  Xikolsburg,  feeling  that  the  milder  method 
of  the  "Piaristen"  was  more  adapted  to  a  re-establish- 
ment of  Catholicism  than  the  rigorous  Jesuit  discipline. 
While  the  "Gymnasium"  was  a  Catholic  institution, 
the  Jewish  scholars,  who  formed  probably  twenty- 
five  per  cent  of  the  enrollment,  were  not  treated 
badly.  We  then  had  the  usage  that  at  every  semi- 
annual examination,  the  students  of  every  class  were 
graded,  and  it  often  happened  that  a  Jew  was  "primus." 
I  also  remember  that  a  Jewish  boy,  the  son  of  a  poor 
tailor,  being  unable  to  pay  his  tuition,  was  called  out 
of  the  classroom  by  the  teacher,  an  old  priest,  who 


32  SCROLLS 

handed  him  the  required  sum,  and  said,  "Tell  your 
father  to  pay  me  back  the  money,  whenever  he  shall 
be  able."  Secularism,  which  at  that  time  was  very 
strong  in  Austria,  when  the  people  rebelled  against  the 
"Concordat"  of  1855,  made  itself  felt  in  the  school 
management.  The  practice  of  the  order  was  to  take 
boys  from  the  school  after  they  had  finished  the  sixth 
grade,  employ  them  as  teachers  in  the  primary  schools, 
afterwards  giving  them  a  chance  to  finish  their  studies, 
when  they  were  employed  in  the  secondary  schools. 
They  therefore,  with  but  very  few  exceptions,  had 
not  received  an  academic  training.  The  clerical 
minister  of  education,  Count  Thun,  while  very  active 
in  improving  secondary  schools,  requiring  an  academic 
course  in  the  special  branch  in  which  the  teacher  was 
to  give  instruction,  winked  at  this  situation.  The 
liberal  government,  which  was  organized  in  1867, 
insisted  on  carrying  out  the  law,  and  in  consequence 
the  order  was  unable  to  obtain  qualified  teachers. 
Therefore,  when  I  entered  the  "Gymnasium"  we  had 
already  some  lay  teachers  and — another  proof  of  the 
liberal  spirit  then  prevailing — in  1873  a  Jew,  Joseph 
Frank,  born  in  Leipnik,  Moravia,  1849,  was  appointed 
temporary  teacher  of  history,  in  a  Catholic  institution, 
maintained  by  a  convent.  It  was  in  the  same  year 
that  the  order  felt,  it  was  impossible  to  maintain  the 
institution  on  the  basis  of  the  state's  requirements, 
and  it  was  turned  over  to  the  state.  The  older  teach- 
ers were  retained,  and  the  younger  ones  dismissed 
in  whose  place  young  men  possessing  a  regular  certifi- 
cate, obtained  at  a  university,  were  appointed.  The 
old  principal  was  retained  as  teacher,  while  in  his 


I  NT  RO  DUCT  ION  33 

place  a  layman  was  entrusted  with   the  supervision 
of  the  school. 

My  object  is  not  to  give  a  biography,  but  a  picture 
of  conditions,  and  therefore  I  shall  say  nothing  of  my 
own  records  during  the  six  years  that  I  attended  the 
"Gymnasium."  The  school  laws  of  Austria  required 
instruction  in  religion  as  part  of  the  prescribed  curricu- 
lum, both  of  primary  and  of  secondary  schools.  This 
law  was  introduced  in  1852,  by  the  above  mentioned 
minister  Count  Thun.  There  was  discrimination  in 
favor  of  the  Catholic  majority.  The  teacher  of  Cath- 
olic religion  was  a  member  of  the  regular  teaching  staff, 
and  his  hours  of  instruction  were  included  in  the 
regular  curriculum,  and  graded  like  the  other  work, 
while  the  Jewish  teacher  had  to  be  contented  with 
the  hours  after  regular  instruction,  and  had  to  combine 
several  classes.  We  also  had  to  pay  a  special  fee  for 
our  religious  instruction,  while  the  Catholic  instruc- 
tion was  paid  for  out  of  the  regular  fund.  This  sys- 
tem, however,  was  changed,  while  I  was  still  in  school, 
the  Jewish  teacher  being  paid  a  certain  sum  for  each 
hour  per  annum.  A  further  change  in  favor  of  the 
recognition  of  the  Jewish  religion  will  be  related  after- 
wards. Our  teacher  was  Dr.  Moritz  Kisler,  -'  (1823- 
1904)  the  principal  of  the  Jewish  school.  While  Dr. 
Eisler  was  a  real  scholar,  I  cannot  say  that  his  official 
instruction  had  very  much  value.  My  own  objection  to 
the  present  scheme  of  the  Gary  system  dates  back  to  this 
early  period.  In  addition  to  this  official  instruction 
I,  together  with  a  few  other  students,  received  instruc- 
tion in  Talmud.  When  the  Jewish  school  was 
established  in  1839,  a  special  teacher  of  Talmud  was  a 
24Je\vish  Encyclopedia,  V.  84. 


34  SCROLLS 

member  of  the  teaching  staff.  His  name  was  Joseph 
Hirsch  Knoepfmacher,  a  disciple  of  Marcus  Benedikt, 
who  had  given  him  the  Morenu  title,  a  distinction, 
a  historic  fact  quite  worthy  of  note,  when  I  arrived 
in  Nikolsburg  forty  years  after  the  death  of  the  great 
rabbi.  In  addition  to  his  position  as  teacher  Knoepf- 
macher was  "Schulrebbe,"  which  means  that  he 
preached  occasionally  at  one  of  the  smaller  synagogues, 
which  he  attended.  This  position  he  still  held,  when 
I  arrived,  but  from  his  teaching  position  he  had 
retired.  I  occasionally  enjoyed  the  distinction  that 
my  teacher  Simon  Koenig,  of  whom  I  shall  speak  later, 
who  was  a  nephew  of  the  rabbi,  would  take  me  to  his 
house  on  Saturday  afternoon,  to  give  me  a  "Leinen," 
which  means  the  reading  of  a  Talmudic  passage, 
which  I  had  not  studied  before.  Knoepfmacher 
died  in  1876,  at  the  age  of  eighty-two,  a  relic  of  a  long 
forgotten  era.  Talmud  intruction,  however,  was 
still  given  in  three  grades,  the  beginner's  class  was  in 
charge  of  one  Isaiah  Krakauer,  called  popularly 
Reb  Schaje  Rebeller,  for  reasons  unknown  to  me,  the 
second  grade  was  taught  by  one  Reb  Zelig  Loeb 
Hahn,  and  the  third  grade  by  the  rabbi,  Dr.  Maier 
Feuchtwang.  When  I  came  to  Nikolsburg,  I  had 
sufficient  preparation  to  be  assigned  to  the  second 
grade. 

Our  teacher,  Reb  Zelig  Loeb,  was  like  so  many 
others  a  shipwrecked  business  man,  who  was  compelled 
to  fall  back  on  his  Talmudic  studies.  The  class  which 
I  entered  consisted  of  but  four  students,  who  came 
five  times  a  wreek  after  school  hours  to  the  house  of 
the  teacher  for  two  hours  of  instruction.  This  fact 


INTRODUCTION  35 


in  itself  shows,  how  the  interest  in  rabbinic  studies  had 
declined  during  the  forty  years  after  the  death  of 
Marcus  Benedikt,  whose  Yeshibah  is  said  to  have 
numbered  from  three  to  four  hundred  students.  The 
real  Yeshibah  seems  to  have  gone  out  of  existence 
with  the  death  of  Rabbi  Solomon  Quetsch  in  1856. 
Of  the  four  students  who  formed  our  class,  two  were 
attracted  by  the  chance  of  winning  a  stipend  of  fifty 
florins  coming  from  the  legacy  of  some  pious  member  of 
the  Nikolsburg  congregation.  The  instruction  was 
given  in  Yiddish,  with  all  the  old-fashioned  habits  of 
gesticulation,  yelling  and  chanting,  which  good  old 
Samuel  Haida  in  the  seventeenth  century  declared 
essential  to  the  progress  of  Jewish  studies,  much  to 
the  displeasure  of  his  more  enlightened  contemporary 
Jair  Hayim  Bacharach.2-"'  The  topic  that  we  studied 
was  the  second  chapter  of  Kiddushin,  hardly  very 
appropriate  for  boys  of  eleven  to  fourteen.  I  had 
previously  studied  under  our  rabbi  at  home  the 
first  chapter  of  Pesahim,  and  strangely  enough,  the 
third  chapter  of  Hullin,  dealing  with  the  dietary  laws, 
which  perhaps  the  rabbi  selected,  because  he  wanted 
to  review  them  for  the  sake  of  his  practice.  The 
scholastic  year  then  began  on  the  first  of  October, 
and  ended  with  the  last  of  July.  I  had  been  on  a  visit 
home  during  the  Christmas  vacation,  and  probably 
on  two  other  similar  occasions.  The  Christmas  vaca- 
tion, I  remember  particularly  on  account  of  the  very 
severe  winter,  and  the  brilliant  polar  light,  connected 
by  superstitious  people  with  the  Franco-German  war. 
The  vacation  began  on  Friday,  and  as  Nikolsburg  had 
no  railroads  then,  we  had  to  make  the  journey  in  a 
^Jewish  Encyclopedia,  VI,  55. 


36  SCROLLS 

sleigh,  the  driver,  a  Jew,  not  being  in  any  hurry,  and 
I  remember  distinctly  that  we  passed  through  Pohr- 
litz,  where  one  of  our  number  had  his  home,  when 
people  were  starting  for  the  synagogue.  It  was  night 
when  we  arrived  at  home,  received  by  my  father  with 
a  severe  reprimand  to  the  driver  for  having  come 
home  on  Sabbath.  My  father  was  not  satisfied  with 
the  progress  of  my  Talmudic  studies,  and  therefore 
at  the  beginning  of  the  new  term  I  was  placed  in 
charge  of  a  private  teacher,  Reb  Shimme  Koenig, 
who  had  been  my  father's  classmate  in  the  Yeshibah 
of  Rabbi  Baer  Oppenheim  in  Eibenschuetz  about 
forty  years  previously.  One  little  incident  that  the 
two  men  discussed  at  their  first  meeting  after  so 
many  years,  deserves  preservation  as  typical  of  the 
spirit  of  the  time.  My  father  reminded  his  former 
schoolmate  of  an  occasion,  when  Rabbi  Baer  quoted  a 
Talmudic  interpretation  of  Rabbi  Mordecai  Benet, 
disapprovingly,  and  added:  "On  the  tombstones  of 
such  people  they  write,  'the  famous  scholar,  the 
brilliant,  and  learned'."  Reb  Schimme,  then  a  boy, 
who  had  always  heard  the  name  of  the  rabbi  of  his 
native  town  mentioned  with  a  reverence  due  to  a 
saint,  turned  pale,  and  when  the  recollection  was 
brought  back  to  him  he  evaded  every  comment. 
Reb  Schimme  was  Schammes  of  the  same  Schul  of 
which  his  uncle  was  rabbi,  and  occasionally  earned 
a  little  extra  money  by  some  religious  job,  such  as  in- 
spector of  the  Matzos  bakery,  the  season  lasting 
hardly  more  than  four  weeks.  During  such  a  season 
I  was  handed  over  temporarily  to  one  of  the  regular 
attendants  of  the  Beth  Hamidrash,  Reb  Jossef  Loebele 


INTRODUCTION  37 


Abeles,  or  Rcb  Schapse  Karpelcs.  Both  seem  to 
have  been  hired  to  spend  their  days  in  the  Beth 
Hamidrash.  The  former  had  the  reputation  that  lie 
knew  Cabbala,  and  I  tried  to  pump  him  on  that 
subject,  which  still  possessed  for  me  the  halo  of 
mystery,  but  he  evaded  it,  merely  declaring  that  it  was 
a  "groisse  Wissenschaft."  Reb  Schapse  was  one 
of  those  noble  idealists,  which  the  much  misunder- 
stood ghetto  produced.  He  would  come  to  the 
Beth  Hamidrash  long  before  daybreak,  at  three  or 
four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  probably  attend  the  daily 
penitential  services,  Shomerim  La-Boker,  which  were 
introduced  by  Rabbi  David  Oppenheim,  who  left  a  fund 
for  their  maintenance,  then  study  till  morning  services 
began,  then  go  home  for  his  frugal  breakfast  and  a 
little  rest,  to  continue  studying  until  noon  time,  and 
after  a  little  siesta,  come  back  and  stay  till  late  in 
the  evening.  He  was  a  quiet  pious  soul,  unostenta- 
tious, and  deeply  devout.  Being  hard  of  hearing,  he 
had  to  retire  from  business,  and  was  given  this  modest 
job,  to  which  was  added  the  income  that  he  received 
from  people  who  commissioned  him  "to  learn"  in  the 
case  of  a  death  or  "Jahrzeit."  Being  of  a  quiet  dis- 
position he  was  considered  stupid.  As  a  type  of  the 
ghetto  piety  which  would  not  speak  unfavorably  of  a 
Talmudic  scholar,  I  quote  the  saying  verbatim: 
"Sein  Toire  ausgenuemmen  is  er  a  Beheme."  I  do 
not  believe  that  the  statement  was  just.  Two  in- 
stances I  shall  quote,  naturally  not  with  a  desire  to 
correct  a  historic  error,  but  to  give  some  information 
about  the  inner  life  and  the  intimate  talk  of  the 
ghetto,  in  its  last  stages.  One  of  the  regular  pieces  of 


38  SCROLLS 

a  ghetto  inventory  is  the  idiot.  I.  L.  Perez  has  pre- 
served us  such  a  picture  in  his  wonderful  sketch 
"Der  Meshuggener  Batlan."  Nikolsburg  had  such 
a  specimen  in  a  man,  then  perhaps  thirty-five  years 
old,  named  "Meshugge  Itzig."  Itzigl,  the  posthum- 
ous son  of  a  rabbinical  scholar,  cousin  of  the  Dajan, 
Rabbi  Moshe  Loeb  Kohn,  and  grandson  of  the  his- 
toric author  Abraham  Trebitsch,26  was  certainly  a 
mental  defective.  He  had  no  occupation,  and  prob- 
ably lived  on  such  charity  jobs,  as  attending  a  Minyan 
and  saying  Kaddish.  Most  of  his  time  he  spent  in 
the  Beth  Hamidrash,  where  he  studied  the  Yiddish 
books  on  religious  ethics.  One  of  his  passions  was 
playing  the  lottery,  which  in  Austria  is  a  state  institu- 
tion, and  allows  people  to  gamble  on  a  very  small  scale. 
The  combination  of  numbers  wrhich  should  win  in  the 
next  drawing  was  naturally  his  main  concern.  While 
he  was  sitting  in  the  Beth  Hamidrash  one  evening, 
studying  his  Yiddish  book  at  the  same  table,  where 
I  received  instruction  from  Reb  Schapse,  Reb 
Gawriele  Boehm  entered.  Reb  Gawriele  was  the 
exact  opposite  of  Reb  Schapse,  very  ostentatious  in 
his  devotion,  and  always  looking  out  for  material 
advantages,  which  in  his  occupation  as  a  religious 
jobber,  certainly  did  not  amount  to  much.  One 
of  his  ostentations  was  that  he  would  not  pass  by  the 
Beth  Hamidrash  without  entering  and  devoting  a 
little  time  to  study.  He  came  in,  and  the  first  thing 
that  he  did  was  to  light  another  candle,  scoffing  at 
Reb  Schapse,  who  was  so  stingy  with  the  provision 
made  for  the  Beth  Hamidrash.  Then  he  opened  a 
book,  and  instead  of  reading,  began  to  propose  to 
MJewish  Encyclopedia,  XII,  238. 


INTRODUCTION  39 


Itzigl  a  scheme  how  to  make  sure  that  he  would  win 
in  the  lottery.  Itzigl  should  wait  until  eleven  at  night, 
when  the  new  moon  would  appear,  then  should  go  out 
half  a  mile  beyond  the  limits  of  the  town  to  recite  the 
prayer  for  the  new  moon,  and  then  retire  without 
saying  one  word,  after  which  he  would  be  sure  to  have 
a  dream,  in  which  the  winning  numbers  would  be 
revealed  to  him.  Having  answered  various  questions, 
and  feeling  that  he  had  sufficiently  impressed  Itzigl 
with  his  advice,  Reb  Gawriele  closed  his  book  and 
left.  Reb  Schapse  calmly  extinguished  the  unneces- 
sary candle  and  said  with  a  smile,  "For  this  study  he 
hardly  needed  more  light." 

Another  occasion  to  illustrate  the  character  of  this 
good  old  soul  is  the  following.  I  had  an  uncle  in 
Nikolsburg,  Aaron  Eisler,  called  Reb  Ora,  whose  wife 
Eva,  "The  Muhme  Chawc,"  was  a  sister  of  my  mother, 
more  than  twenty  years  her  senior.  Aaron  Eisler 
was,  measured  by  the  local  standard,  a  very  rich  man 
and  somewhat  miserly,  although  a  strictly  observant 
Jew,  who  frequented  twice  a  day  the  "Hasidim  Schul," 
a  synagog  founded  by  Rabbi  Schmelka  Horwitz, 
about  1775  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  the  Hasidic 
ritual.  Having  no  sons,  my  uncle  was  very  careful 
to  "provide  for  the  salvation  of  his  soul"  (Xeshome 
versorgen).  He  had  a  beautiful  Scfer  Torah  \\ritten, 
which,  while  he  was  living,  was  kept  in  his  house,  and 
which  in  his  will,  he  bequeathed  to  the  synagog. 
Inhiswillwas  provided  that  ten  men  should  come  every 
day  to  his  house,  during  the  thirty  days  following  his 
death  to  hold  services.  During  these  services  one 
Saturday  evening,  the  people  assembled,  most  of  them 


40  SCROLLS 

very  poor,  some  plain  carriers  of  burden,  anxious  that 
prayers  should  begin,  so  that  they  might  go  to  their 
work.  Reb  Schapse,  who  read  the  services,  was  not 
sure  that  the  Sabbath  had  ended,  and  said  to  the 
impatient  worshippers,  "Don't  be  in  a  hurry,  the  time 
will  come,  when  you  will  be  glad  that  the  services 
do  not  begin  so  early."  This  was  an  allusion  to  the 
rabbinic  belief  that  the  sinners  in  Gehinnom  are  at 
rest  on  Saturday,  and  do  not  return  to  their  torments 
until  the  services  are  over. 

Both  Reb  Shapse  and  Reb  Gawriele  are  types  that 
by  this  time  surely  have  gone  out  of  existence  in  their 
part  of  the  country.  Reb  Gawriele  especially  was 
a  type  of  the  degeneracy  of  the  ghetto.  A  lineal 
descendant  of  the  famous  Rabbi  Loewe  Ben  Bezalel 
of  Prague,  of  whose  Kiddush  cup  he  was  the  proud 
possessor,  he  died  in  poverty  and  obscurity.  His 
picture  has  by  accident  been  perpetuated  in  the  illus- 
tration accompanying  the  article  "Nikolsburg"  in 
the  Jewish  Encyclopedia. 

Reb  Schimme  had  prepared  me  for  the  Bar  Mitzvah, 
teaching  me  a  dialectical  discourse  on  the  Talmudic 
law  of  the  obligation  of  swearing  when  the  defendant 
admits  the  claim  of  the  plaintiff  in  part  (Baba  Mezia, 
3  a).  I  have  forgotten  all  of  it  except  the  subject. 
The  audience  which  understood  my  discourse  when 
I  delivered  it  at  home  hardly  counted  more  than  four 
people.  I  was  the  last  one  in  my  town  to  celebrate  a 
Bar  Mitzvah  in  this  style,  but  I  also  delivered  the 
customary  German  address  that  I  had  written  myself 
for  this  occasion. 

After  having  been  under  Reb  Schimme's  tutelage 
for  about  three  years,  I  was  enrolled,  in  the  highest 


INTRODUCTION  41 


class  of  the  Talmud  school  in  charge  of  the  Rabbi, 
Dr.  Maier  Feuchtwang.  About  three  boys  came  to 
the  rabbi's  house  three  times  a  week  from  eleven  to 
twelve.  Dr.  Feuchtwang,  born  in  Pappenheim, 
Bavaria,  1814,  was  elected  rabbi  of  Xikolsburg 
in  1861,  coming  from  Neutra.  Hungary.  A  pupil  of 
Rabbi  Jacob  Ettlinger,  and  Rabbi  Seligman  Baer 
Bamberger,  he  represented  the  strict  German  ortho- 
doxy, which  combined  with  good  secular  education, 
was  somewhat  strange  in  our  old  fashioned  crude 
environment.  Yet  he  was  highly  respected,  both  on 
account  of  his  character  and  his  piety,  although  a  few 
representatives  of  the  old  school,  under  the  leadership 
of  the  Dajan,  Moses  Loeb  Kohn,  antagonized  him 
occasionally  with  great  bitterness,  especially  when 
he  gave  his  consent  to  the  introduction  of  such  reforms 
as  a  choir  of  boys,  and  the  abrogation  of  "Schulklop- 
pen"  and  "Schulrufen."  These  iconoclastic  changes 
had  occurred  a  few  years  before  I  arrived  in  Nikols- 
burg,  and  the  bitterness  of  the  strife  had  ceased,  when 
I  came.  Only  once  I  remember  a  representative  of 
the  old  school,  who  declared  in  the  office  ol  the  con- 
gregation, that  the  rabbi  is  "the  ruin"  (a  Shtorx)  of 
the  Torah  and  of  the  fear  of  God.  The  rabbi  preached 
a  sermon  on  holydays,  and  on  one  Sabbath  a  month 
before  the  Mussaf  services  began,  which  in  Nikols- 
burg,  as  in  all  Moravian  congregations,  started  at  ten 
o'clock.  This  practice  had  been  followed  from  time 
immemorial  in  order  to  give  to  those  who  attended 
services  in  another  synagog,  the  opportunity  ol 
hearing  him.  My  impressions  of  Dr.  Feuchtwang  as 
a  preacher  may  be  colored  by  youthful  enthusiasm, 
but  I  do  believe  him  to  have  been  endowed  with  good 


42  SCROLLS 

oratorical  gifts.  As  a  pedagogue  he  was  not  a  great 
success.  The  time  for  instruction  was  short,  because 
we  left  school  at  eleven  o'clock,  which  brought  us 
naturally  later  to  his  house,  and  at  twelve  o'clock 
the  lesson  closed.  Occasionally  it  was  interrupted  by 
visitors,  or  a  pressing  congregational  duty.  My  father, 
therefore,  finding  that  I  did  not  make  sufficient  pro- 
gress, placed  me  under  the  care  of  the  other  Dajan 
Rabbi  Joseph  Knoepfmacher,  who  was  also  "Schul- 
rebbe"  of  the  Neuschul,  the  second  largest  synagogue. 
Knoepfmacher  was  a  somewhat  modern  man,  who 
born  in  1815,  had  still  attended  the  course  under  Rabbi 
Mordecai  Benet,  but  was  a  discipleof  SolomonQuetsch, 
when  the  latter  was  rabbi  of  Leipnik.  He  had  in  an 
autodidactic  way  acquired  a  solid  knowledge  of  the 
most  important  high  school  studies,  and  spoke  a 
correct  German,  different  in  this  respect  from  his 
colleague  Reb  Moshe  Loeb,  who  maintained  the  Yid- 
dish in  his  discourses.  Knoepfmacher  was  a  good 
teacher,  and  congratulating  him  on  his  ninetieth 
birthday,  I  could  remind  him  still  of  the  discussion 
on  the  principle  of  conflicting  laws  which  he  had  taught 
me  (Makkot  17,  a).  He  died  in  1909,  at  the  age  of 
ninety-four,  the  last  relic  of  old  rabbinism  in  the 
place  made  famous  by  so  many  prominent  rabbinic 
authors  like  Loewe  Ben  Bezalel  and  Lipman  Heller. 
His  position  was  very  modest.  As  Dajan  he  received 
a  salary  of  250  florins  (about  $100)  and  as  preacher  at 
his  synagogue  very  likely  not  more.  Yet  he  raised  a 
family  of  ten  children,  though  his  wife,  who  kept  a 
store,  contributed  to  the  maintenance  of  the  house- 
hold. As  another  interesting  feature  of  economic 


INTRODUCTION  43 

life,  I  may  add  that  the  tuition  that  I  paid  for  three 
hours  weekly  was  four  florins  a  month,  while  Reb 
Schimme  received  only  two  florins  a  month  for  five 
lessons  a  week. 

During  my  last  year  in  Nikolsburg  my  Talmud  stud- 
ies were  neglected,  because  I  needed  all  my  time  to 
prepare  for  the  final  examination  (Maturitaetspruef- 
ung),  which  then  was  quite  severe,  partly  because  of 
the  government's  policy  of  improving  the  standard 
of  education,  and  partly  because  most  of  our  teachers 
were  young  men,  fresh  from  the  university,  inspired 
by  their  feeling  of  power.  The  examination  had  two 
parts,  one  written  examination,  which  extended  over  a 
week,  and  was  followed,  four  weeks  later  by  an  oral 
examination,  lasting  one  day.  It  was  quite  an  anxiety 
when  at  the  close  of  the  day  the  Landesschulinspektor 
(superintendent  of  the  provincial  school  system)  who 
presided  at  these  examinations,  announced,  "I  regret 
to  say  that  the  result  of  the  examination  is  not  as 
favorable  as  I  would  have  liked  to  see  it."  And  then 
came  the  list  of  those  who  \vere  rejected  for  one  year, 
and  others  who  had  to  repeat  examination  in  one 
subject  at  the  beginning  of  the  fall  term.  I  was 
among  the  fortunates,  who  had  passed  without 
a  scratch,  and  so  had  completed  at  the  age  of  seventeen 
my  "Gymnasium"  education.  From  July  17,  when 
the  examination  was  held,  until  the  fall  term,  which 
began  in  October,  I  was  free,  and  spending  the  vaca- 
tion at  home,  my  father  utilized  the  time  that  he 
could  spare  from  his  business,  to  give  me  instruction 
in  Talmud,  so  that  I  could  enter  the  Breslau  Seminary 
well  prepared.  The  distance  from  my  native  town 


44  SCROLLS 

to  Breslau  is  probably  less  than  two  hundred  miles, 
but  the  connections  were  poor,  and  it  took  nearly 
fourteen  hours  to  reach  my  destination.  Our  people 
living  in  narrow  conditions  did  not  travel  very  often, 
and  Breslau,  being  beyond  the  border  of  Austria,  was 
considered  a  different  world.  In  order  to  reach  my 
destination  in  the  day  time,  I  had  to  leave  my  home 
at  nine  in  the  evening,  and  to  travel  all  night  until 
noon  next  day.  Sleepers  did  not  exist  and  probably 
if  they  would  have  existed,  it  would  have  been  con- 
sidered an  extravagance  to  use  them.  I  stopped  at  a 
modest  Jewish  hotel  in  the  old  quarter  of  the  town, 
known  to  readers  of  German  literature  from  Gustav 
Freytag's  "Soil  und  Haben."  I  arrived  October  6, 
1876,  and  on  the  same  afternoon  called  on  my  future 
professors.  The  "Juedisch-Theologisches  Seminar" 
is  a  modest  apartment  building,  on  the  edge  of  the 
old  inner  town  as  is  seen  from  the  name  of  the  street 
"Wall  Strasse."  Not  far  from  it  was  the  old  powder 
magazine,  whose  explosion  in  1749  destroyed  so  many 
Jewish  lives,  and  is  alluded  to  by  Lessing  in  his  play, 
"Die  Juden."  One  of  his  characters  quotes  this  fact 
and  the  great  loss  of  Jewish  lives  as  proof  that  Provi- 
dence does  not  want  so  many  Jews.  The  old  fortifi- 
cations were  razed  after  the  Napoleonic  time,  the 
ditch  being  retained  and  adding  greatly  to  the  beauty 
of  the  place.  The  little  garden  in  the  rear  of  the 
building  adjoins  the  "Promenade."  On  the  first  floor 
were  three  classrooms,  the  janitor  quarters,  and  the 
flat  of  Dr.  David  Rosin.  On  the  second  floor  the 
"Direktor"  Dr.  Leyser  Lazarus  lived,  while  one  part 
was  used  for  the  librarv.  On  the  third  floor  Graetz 


45 


lived,  while  part  of  the  flat  was  used  as  a  synagog. 
On  the  fourth  floor  were  two  flats  inhabited  by 
Freudenthal  and  Zuckermann.  On  the  fifth  floor,  in 
the  attic,  there  were  two  rooms  set  apart  for  students, 
who  were  given  the  privilege  of  free  quarters.  There 
were,  when  I  entered  the  seminary,  thirty-four 
students  enrolled,  eight  of  whom  were  newcomers. 
Only  three  of  us  had  graduated  from  a  "Gymnasium," 
while  the  others  had  still  to  attend  the  preparatory 
class,  in  which  also  secular  subjects  were  taught  in 
order  to  prepare  them  for  the  university.  Among 
the  latter,  I  may  here  mention,  was  Leon  Kellner, 
lately  professor  of  English  at  the  University  of  Czer- 
nowitz,  and  a  celebrated  author  not  merely  in  his 
special  branch,  but  also  as  essayist  and  known  as  a 
worker  in  Zionist  circles. 

The  seminary  had  two  branches,  one  in  which,  as 
already  stated,  secular  subjects  were  taught,  while 
the  other  was  devoted  to  Jewish  studies.  This  again 
had  two  grades,  distinguished  by  the  preparation  in 
rabbinical  studies.  It  naturally  happened  very  often 
that  the  students  of  the  preparatory  class  were  good 
Talmudic  scholars,  coming  from  Polish  or  Hungarian 
Yeshibahs,  while  some  of  those  who  had  their  regular 
high  school  education,  coming  from  western  Europe, 
were  in  the  preparatory  Talmud  class.  I  was  ex- 
amined by  Lazarus  in  Talmud,  and  still  remember  the 
passage  that  I  had  to  read.  It  deals  with  the  question 
whether  it  was  permitted  to  bring  to  the  priest  on 
holydays  the  gifts  to  which  he  is  entitled  (Bezah,  1  2,b). 
My  examination  passed  satisfactorily,  as  I  also 
passed  the  examination  in  Bible,  at  which  Rosin  gave 


46  SCROLLS 

me  Psalm  64  to  translate  and  to  explain  grammat- 
ically. I  still  remember  that  he  asked  me  where  the 
word  DTPl  was  found  without  suffix.  I  must 
admit  that  I  did  not  know  that  this  was  found  in 
II  Kings  13,  17,  but  I  have  remembered  it  ever  since. 
Interesting  it  was  to  me  that  Rosin,  before  pro- 
nouncing this  word,  took  his  velvet  skull  cap  from 
his  pocket,  to  cover  his  head. 

The  courses  in  the  Seminary  began  after  the 
holydays,  which  in  that  year  closed  October  13, 
while  the  University  course  did  not  open  until  No- 
vember. The  arrangement  was  such  that  the  courses 
in  the  Seminary  were  given  in  the  morning,  while  we 
attended  University  in  the  afternoon,  when  most  of 
the  courses  in  the  department  of  philosophy  are  given. 
Exceptionally,  we  would  have  a  course  at  eleven 
o'clock,  which  according  to  the  habit  of  the  "academic 
quarter"  was  to  begin  at  11.15,  but  usually  did  not 
begin  until  11.20,  so  that  we  had  time  to  reach  the 
university,  when  we  left  the  seminary  at  11.  There 
was  no  street  car  in  Breslau  with  its  quarter  of  a 
million  inhabitants  then.  Most  of  the  students 
studied  Oriental  languages,  especially  Arabic,  at  the 
University.  I  was  one  of  the  exceptions,  taking  a 
history  course.  The  men  who  taught  at  the  Seminary 
when  I  entered  have  all  gone  to  their  eternal  reward. 
The  last  one  to  survive  was  Jacob  Freudenthal,  who, 
however,  having  in  the  meantime  been  appointed 
professor  ordinarius  of  philosophy  at  the  University, 
had  left  the  seminary  long  before  his  death.  All 
these  men  are  known  in  the  history  of  our  literature, 
and  it  is  therefore  unnecessary  to  give  a  general 


INTRODUCTION  47 


characterization.  Lazarus,  who  is  not  known  as  an 
author,  for  as  far  as  I  remember,  his  essay  on  the 
ethics  of  the  Talmud,  published  in  the  "Jahres- 
bericht"  of  1877  is  the  only  work  of  his  pen  extant. 
He  was  physically  weak,  and  died  while  I  was  in 
Breslau,  April  16,  1879,  at  the  age  of  fifty-eight. 
His  Talmud  course  was  divided  according  to  the  plan 
introduced  by  his  predecessor,  Zechariah  Frankel, 
into  three  parts,  a  thorough  course  (Statarisch),  a 
cursory  course,  and  one  on  codes.  In  addition,  he 
gave  one  lecture  a  week  on  a  Talmudic  subject. 
His  method  was  entirely  new  to  me,  for  he,  a  disciple 
of  Akiba  Eger,  was  a  great  admirer  of  dialecticism  as 
presented  in  the  latest  development  of  rabbinic 
literature,  of  which  I  never  had  heard  anything 
before.  Very  often  he  gave  an  argument  of  Akiba 
Eger,  introducing  it  with  the  words,  "Reb  Kiwe  has  on 
this  subject  a  brilliant  argument."  Having  been  raised 
in  a  different  environment,  I  did  not  even  know  who 
this  Reb  Kiwe  was,  and  naturally  thinking  of  the 
Rabbi  Akiba  of  the  Mishnah,  could  in  spite  of  im- 
modest preparation  in  Talmudic  literature,  not  under- 
stand how  Rabbi  Akiba  could  ever  have  used  such 
an  intricate  argument.  There  was  hardly  any 
difference  between  the  two  courses  in  Talmud.  Laz- 
arus was  too  fond  of  the  Pilpulistic  method  of  the 
Polish  school,  to  allow  an  opportunity  to  pass,  which 
suggested  the  presentation  of  such  a  specimen. 
The  same  is  also  true  of  his  lectures  on  Talmudic 
topics,  though  they  were  intended  to  give  a  modern 
presentation  of  rabbinic  literature.  Personally  he 
was  a  very  amiable  and  kindly  man,  and  possessed  a 


48  SCROLLS 

great  deal  of  humor.  I  am  indebted  to  him  for  a 
number  of  anecdotes  from  old  fashioned  Jewish  life, 
and  of  which  I  shall  quote  one,  because  it  characterizes 
the  man.  Leyser  Lazarus,  the  older  brother  of  the 
famous  philosopher,  Moritz  Lazarus,  was  born  in 
Filehne,  province  of  Posen,  and  reared  in  the  old- 
fashioned  Polish  style,  as  it  survived  in  the  first 
decades  of  Prussian  administration.  As  a  young  man 
he  was  called  to  Sondershausen,  where  he  instructed 
the  Landrabbiner  Philip  Heidenheim  (1814-1906), 
up  to  that  time  a  teacher,  in  Talmudic  literature, 
thus  acquiring  the  opportunity  of  studying  at  the 
"Gymnasium".  After  having  finished  his  university 
course,  he  became  rabbi  of  the  small  provincial  town 
of  Prenzlau,  in  the  province  of  Brandenburg,  where 
he  remained  for  twenty-five  years.  Having  plenty 
of  leisure,  he  devoted  his  time  to  Talmudic  studies, 
and  was  indeed  a  Talmudic  scholar,  ranking  with  any 
one  of  the  old  school.  While  he  was  rabbi  in  Prenzlau, 
so  he  told  us,  a  Polish  Jew,  wrho  came  there  on  business, 
spent  the  Sabbath  in  town,  and  having  nothing  else 
to  do,  spent  most  of  the  day  in  the  company  of  the 
rabbi.  He  was  quite  astonished  to  find  a  "Datsch  a 
Doktor,"  who  wore  no  beard,  except  for  a  fringe  on 
his  cheeks  and  under  his  chin,  and  spoke  a  correct 
German,  and  yet  could  hold  his  own  by  the  side  of 
any  Polish  rabbi.  In  the  afternoon,  the  visitor  ac- 
companied the  rabbi  to  a  class  of  girls,  whom  he  in- 
structed in  religion,  and  on  the  next  day  he  attended 
a  wedding  in  the  synagogue,  where  the  rabbi  delivered 
an  address.  Taking  leave,  the  visitor  said:  "Herr 
Doktor,  you  ought  to  come  to  us  in  Poland.  There 


INTRODUCTION  49 

you  could  be  a  rabbi,  but  here  they  make  of  you  a 
Melammed,  and  a  Marshalik  (buffoon.)"  As  I  al- 
ready stated,  Lazarus'  efficiency  was  considerably 
hampered  by  his  delicate  health,  and  after  his  death 
his  place  was  taken  temporarily  by  a  layman,  a  re- 
tired business  man,  named  Kuerschner,  from  Loslau, 
Silesia.  This  fact  is  of  importance,  because  this 
type  of  men  has  completely  died  out  in  Germany,  and 
the  small  congregations  in  Silesia,  which  forty  years 
ago  still  possessed  some  laymen  with  considerable 
Talmudic  knowledge,  have  in  most  cases  also  ceased 
to  exist  as  congregations. 

Of  the  men  composing  the  faculty  of  the  Seminary 
in  my  time,  the  most  illustrious  scholar  was  Graetz. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  characterize  him  as  an  author. 
As  a  teacher  he  was  more  successful  by  stimulating 
self-study  than  by  instruction.  As  a  man,  he,  al- 
though coming  from  the  poor  classes,  was  an  aristocrat 
but  he  was  even  in  his  home  a  source  ot  inspiration  by 
his  interesting  conversation,  not  merely  on  his  special- 
ty, but  also  on  current  topics  and  personal  matters. 
As  a  feature,  which  is  rather  unpleasant,  but  his- 
torically interesting,  I  wish  to  say  that  he  never 
spoke  of  Lazarus  as  the  "Herr  Direktor"  except  at 
the  graduation  exercises  ot  1879,  when,  owing  to  the 
sickness  of  Lazarus,  he  presided.  He  was  most 
regular  in  his  habits,  an  early  riser  and  a  hard  worker, 
though  he  never  seemed  to  be  pressed  for  time. 
He  had  twice-  a  week  his  card  party,  to  which  one  of 
the  students  was  usually  invited,  the  third  man  being 
Jacob  Levy,  the  author  of  the  Talmudic  dictionary, 
who  was  living  in  Hreslau  as  prebendary  (Stifts- 


50  SCROLLS 

rabbiner).  Distinctly  aristocratic  was  professor 
Freudenthal,  then  just  beginning  his  career  as  Privat- 
dozent  of  philosophy  at  the  University.  He  was  a 
very  handsome,  tall  man,  with  a  blond  beard,  suggest- 
ing more  the  typically  North-German,  than  the  Jew. 
He  was  like  the  others,  strictly  conforming,  attending 
the  synagogue  services  every  Sabbath,  and  being  a 
Cohen,  chanted  the  priestly  benediction  in  the  old- 
fashioned  style  on  holydays.  The  synagogue  services 
were  held  every  day  in  the  morning,  and  it  pains  me 
to  say,  that  it  was  often  difficult  to  obtain  Minyan. 
Even  the  students  who  lived  in  the  attic  rooms  had  to 
be  aroused  from  their  beds  occasionally.  The  only 
regular  attendant  at  the  daily  services  was  the 
"Direktor."  Graetz  came  only  on  the  days,  when 
Torah  is  read,  and  rather  zealously  guarded  his 
privilege  of  distributing  the  honors.  Needless  to  say, 
the  radical  Bible  critic,  denounced  in  the  orthodox 
press  as  an  infidel,  laid  his  Tefilliri  scrupulously. 
The  most  observant  Jew  of  the  faculty  was  Benedikt 
Zuckermann.  A  native  of  Breslau,  and  educated 
regularly  at  the  "Gymnasium"  and  at  the  university, 
where  he  studied  mathematics,  he  was  scrupulously 
observant.  A  bachelor,  living  in  a  household,  over 
which  his  maiden  sister  presided,  and  a  man  of  means, 
he  would  attend  every  day  a  little  synagog  in  a 
room  in  the  old  ghetto,  where  his  father  had  lived, 
but  at  the  same  time  was  fond  of  social  life,  liked 
dancing,  and  was  a  witty  after  dinner  speaker.  He 
had  an  almost  cynical  attitude  to  modern  theological 
studies.  The  students  ought  to  study  Talmud  and 
codes.  All  the  rest  of  "Juedische  Wissenschaft"  was 


INTRODUCTION  51 

"Mumpitz."     Personally,  he  was  the  kindest  of  all 
men,  free  from  all  ceremonialism. 

David  Rosin  was  the  one  member  of  the  faculty, 
to  whom  I  stood  in  closest  relation.  He  was  the 
pedagog  "par  excellence,"  who  prepared  his  lessons 
in  exegetical  and  Midrashic  literature,  very  carefully, 
and  did  his  best  to  guide  the  students  by  personal 
contact.  His  home  was  delightfully  domestic,  his 
wife,  the  type  of  a  German  governess,  with  her  blond 
curls,  as  you  would  find  them  in  a  fashion  journal  of 
seventy  years  ago,  an  almost  devout  admirer  of  her 
husband,  and  aiding  him  in  making  students  feel  at 
home.  Rosin's  qualities  as  a  scholar  are  known  from 
his  various  works,  as  his  painstaking  edition  of 
Abraham  Ibn  Ezra's  poems,  and  Samuel  Ben  Meir's 
Pentateuch  commentary.  In  addition  to  the  subjects 
mentioned,  he  taught  homiletics.  It  was  the  rule 
that  no-one  should  preach  until  he  had  passed  four 
semesters,  and  then  he  had  to  begin  in  the  classroom, 
to  be  licensed  to  preach  in  the  synagogue,  when  he 
was  considered  sufficiently  mature.  The  criticism  in 
the  classroom  seemed  to  me  even  then  somewhat 
pedantic.  Rosin  had  not  been  a  preacher,  and  his 
ideal  of  preaching  was  that  of  Michael  Sachs  (1806- 
1864)  under  whom  he  was  superintendent  of  the  re- 
ligious school  in  Berlin  and  whose  sermons  he  edited. 
Altogether,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  seminary  had  a 
sort  of  convent  atmosphere,  quite  apart  from  the 
actual  life  of  the  congregations,  still  cherishing  the 
ideal  of  the  first  rabbis  of  modern  education,  with 
the  conservative  views  of  Zechariah  Frankel,  who 
in  the  twentv  vears  of  his  administration,  had  im- 


52  SCROLLS 

pressed  his  strong  personality  on  the  course  of  the 
seminary. 

Having  completed  my  academic  triennium,  I  left 
Breslau  in  the  summer  of  1879  with  the  object  of 
obtaining  my  degree  at  an  Austrian  university.  Not 
considering  it  sufficiently  important  to  analyze  my 
psychology,  and  not  even  quite  certain  that  I  could 
do  it,  I  limit  myself  to  saying  that  I  expected  to  enter 
a  secular  calling  as  teacher  of  history  in  a  high  school. 
For  this  purpose  I  had  to  take  a  course  of  two  semes- 
ters in  an  Austrian  university.  It  is  perhaps  neces- 
sary, in  order  to  avoid  misunderstanding,  to  state  that 
if  I  had  any  scruples  against  entering  the  rabbinate, 
they  were  rather  dictated  by  orthodox  motives. 
I  arrived  at  Vienna  in  the  fall  of  1879,  and  was 
matriculated  at  the  University,  where  I  took  a  his- 
toric course  under  Max  Buedinger  (1828-1902),  the 
son  of  a  Jewish  teacher  and  author,  who  was  ap- 
pointed professor  as  a  Jew,  an  event  which  was  quite 
symptomatic  of  the  liberal  spirit  in  those  days,  but 
at  some  unknown  moment,  converted  to  Protestant- 
ism. Whether  he  was  a  Jew  still  in  1879,  I  do  not 
know,  but  on  the  few  occasions  that  he  would  touch 
in  his  lectures  on  Jewish  matters,  he  seemed  to  be 
anxious  to  avoid  the  impression,  that  he  was  pre- 
judiced in  favor  of  Judaism.  In  an  essay  on  the 
influence  of  Egyptian  ideas  on  the  religion  of  the 
Hebrews,  printed  in  the  publications  of  the  Imperial 
Academy  of  Vienna,  he  quotes  Amos  V,  25,  stating 
in  a  footnote  that  he  gives  Ewald's  translation,  as  if 
he  were  anxious  to  avoid  the  suspicion  that  he  was 
able  to  read  the  original,  although  my  teacher  Dr. 


INTRODUCTION  53 


Feuchtwang  told  me  that  he  instructed  him  in 
Mishnah  in  Cassel,  where  his  father,  Moses  Buedinger, 
was  teacher.  Personally  I  had  hardly  any  contact 
with  him,  for  in  a  university  with  4,000  to 
5,000  students,  there  was  not  that  relation  between 
professors  and  students  that  we  had  in  Breslau,  where 
I  was  in  very  close  contact  with  Professor  Jacob  Caro, 
the  Jewish  professor  of  history,  who,  though  the  son 
of  a  Polish  rabbi,  also  kept  aloof  from  all  Jewish 
affairs. 

While  I  had  gone  to  Vienna  for  the  purpose  of 
pursuing  my  secular  studies,  I  also  attended  the  course 
in  Talmud  given  in  the  Beth  Hamidrash  by  Isaac 
Hirsch  Weiss.  This  course  was  attended  by  very  few 
students,  none  of  whom  was  a  regular  university 
student,  as  far  as  I  can  remember.  A  few  old  men, 
retired  from  business,  and  some  poor  Talmudists,  who 
received  a  stipend  from  the  Beth  Hamidrash,  attended 
the  course  also.  Weiss,  though  a  brilliant  scholar  was 
not  a  teacher.  He  displayed  a  very  hot  temper, 
and  if  one  dared  contradict  him,  or  would  offer  an 
explanation  of  a  difficult  passage  that  Weiss  did  not 
like,  he  came  in  for  a  volley  of  abuse.  I  may  state 
this  fact,  because  I  enjoyed  the  distinction  of  being 
a  favorite  of  his,  as  he  showed  afterwards,  when  he 
gave  me  a  rabbinic  diploma,  without  my  asking  him. 
The  other  lectures,  given  at  the  Beth  Hamidrash  by 
Meier  Friedmann,  and  by  Jellinek,  I  only  attended 
occasionally  as  a  visitor.  Jellinek,  however,  was  very 
kind  to  me.  Before  characterizing  him,  I  wish  to 
relate  my  first  experience  when  I  visited  him.  I 
arrived  in  Vienna  during  the  Sukkoth  week,  and 


54  SCROLLS 

thought  it  would  not  be  a  convenient  time  to  make  my 
first  call.  Jellinek  had  heard  of  my  presence  and 
knowing  my  name,  because  the  rabbi  of  my  native 
town,  Dr.  Friedlaender,  had  written  to  him  about  me, 
and  in  the  previous  year,  I  had  received  the  stipend 
of  470  florins  from  the  legacy  of  Baron  Jonas  von 
Koenigswarter,  on  which  Jellinek  had  a  decisive  vote, 
and  he  considered  my  tardiness  in  making  my  appear- 
ance bad  manners.  Weiss  told  me  of  this  fact,  and 
naturally  I  called  at  Jellinek's  house  on  the  next 
Sabbath.  The  services  are  held  in  Vienna  early,  so 
that  about  11  o'clock  there  usually  was  a  reception, 
both  at  the  houses  of  Jellinek  and  Guedemann. 
When  I  was  ushered  into  the  parlor,  Jellinek  took  me 
into  an  adjoining  room,  and  said  in  his  lively  manner, 
which  characterized  his  speech  at  home  as  well  as  in 
the  pulpit,  "You  have  been  in  Vienna  for  twro  weeks. 
You  know  that  I  voted  for  you  in  the  case  of  the 
Koenigswarter  stipend,  and  you  did  not  find  it  worth 
your  while  to  call  personally.  I  call  this  'Juedisch.' 
Now  I  tell  you  what  I  am  going  to  do  for  you.  There 
is  the  Jeiteles  stipend  of  100  florins  vacant.  You  make 
your  application  and  hand  it  to  me,  and  I  will  do  the 
rest.  This  is  the  way  Dr.  Jellinek  acts." 

I  cannot  say  that  Jellinek  ever  impressed  me  as  a 
snob.  His  vanity  was  something  natural.  He  had 
been  so  blindly  admired  in  Vienna  that  he  took  all 
the  tribute  of  admiration  as  something  entirely 
natural.  He  possessed  a  zeal  in  trying  to  help  young 
men.  I  remember  one  time  having  met  him  on  the 
street  in  one  of  these  narrow  lanes  in  the  old  part 
of  the  town  near  the  Seitenstettengasse,  where  the 


I  XT  RO  DUCT  ION  55 

old  synagogue  is  located,  and  where  Jellinek  lived. 
He  approached  me  in  his  lively  gait,  and  said  in  the 
loud  tones,  which  was  his  habit,  as  usually  is  the 
habit  of  most  persons  hard  of  hearing,  "What  is 
the  matter  with  you?  I  gave  orders  to  examine  the 
death  records,  to  find  whether  you  are  still  among 
the  living.  Why  have  I  not  seen  you  so  long?"  I 
remember  today,  my  feeling  of  pride  seeing  a  Jewish 
"Diestmann"  (men  standing  on  certain  street  corners, 
waiting  for  a  call  to  take  a  message  somewhere  or  to 
carry  a  burden),  who  stood  all  the  time  with  his  red 
cap  in  his  hand,  evidently  deeply  impressed  with  the 
importance  of  the  young  man,  to  whom  the  great 
preacher  spoke  in  such  familiar  tones.  Jellinek  had 
the  pompous  attitude  of  the  pulpit,  even  in  his 
private  conversation.  A  rather  short  man  with  his 
long  curled  hair,  reaching  to  his  shoulders,  carefully 
dressed,  he  would  suggest  the  actor  in  his  appearance. 
I  saw  him  for  the  last  time  in  November,  1891, 
previous  to  my  coming  to  America.  A  few  months 
before,  he  had  offered  to  me,  without  any  solicitation 
on  my  part  to  suggest  my  name  to  a  prominent 
congregation,  where  the  pulpit  was  vacant.  A  few 
months  afterwards,  when  my  election  to  my  present 
position  in  Cincinnati  was  reported  in  the  press,  I 
received  again  a  letter  from  him,  dated  from  Rcichen- 
hall,  in  which  he  said:  "You  are  going  to  America 
although  you  know  that  Dr.  Jellinek's  influence 
would  always  be  at  your  disposal,  but  fearing  that  I 
will  not  see  you  before  you  leave  Europe,  I  wish  you 
God  speed."  Making  my  last  visit  to  Vienna,  where 
I  have  relatives,  I  called  on  him.  He  was  then  almost 


56  SCROLLS 

completely  deaf,  and  in  very  poor  health.  One  had 
to  use  a  speaking  tube  to  talk  to  him,  which  was 
somewhat  unpleasant  because  his  hair  was  very 
highly  perfumed.  When  he  complained  of  his 
health,  I  replied  that  his  regular  contributions  to  the 
"Neuzeit"  did  not  make  the  impression  that  his 
mental  vigor  was  impaired.  He  replied,  "Oh,  this 
is  no  work.  You  know  I  am  an  excellent  conver- 
sationalist, and  when  I  talked  of  current  events  in  the 
family  circle,  my  wife  said,  'You  are  throwing  pearls 
away.'  So  we  made  arrangements  to  have  a  sten- 
ographer present,  who  takes  down  my  chat."  Jelli- 
nek's  fame  as  a  preacher  is  a  matter  of  historic  record. 
I  am  guilty  of  the  heresy  that  I  could  never  become 
a  blind  admirer  of  his.  There  was  something  af- 
fected in  his  speech,  and  something  intended  to 
captivate  the  masses.  In  addition,  his  use  of  the 
old-fashioned  methods  of  a  "Maggid"  by  quoting  a 
Midrash  and  twristing  it  altogether  out  of  its  meaning, 
impressed  me  as  an  anachronism.  While  not  quite 
a  quarter  of  a  century  has  passed  since  his  death,  his 
era  passed  long  ago.  When  he  came  to  Vienna  in 
1856,  it  was  believed  that  all  that  was  necessary  to 
perpetuate  Judaism  was  correct  German,  an  aes- 
thetic change  of  the  services,  and  general  culture  of 
the  preacher.  The  fact  that  his  own  son,  George,  a 
brilliant  scholar  in  international  law,  converted  to 
Christianity,  is,  although  it  happened  often  enough 
in  strictly  orthodox  circles,  a  significant  fact. 

Having  finished  the  prescribed  course  of  two 
semesters  at  the  University  of  Vienna,  I  still  remained 
there  for  a  year,  being  busy  with  the  preparation  for 


INTRODUCTION  57 


my  examination.  For  examination  as  teacher  of 
history  in  a  high  school,  the  law  demands  that  one 
write  three  papers,  one  on  his  major,  one  on  his  minor 
subject  and  one  in  pedagogy.  My  major  subject  was 
history,  the  minor  geography,  and  of  the  topics  which 
were  given  to  me  I  remember  only  distinctly  the  one 
on  the  major  subject.  It  dealt  with  the  status  of  the 
Roman  citizens  in  the  kingdom  of  the  Langobards, 
previous  to  the  promulgation  of  the  "Edictus  Roth- 
ari."  My  topic  in  geography  dealt  with  the  Alps, 
and  that  of  pedagogy  I  have  completely  forgotten. 
Having  barely  completed  my  thesis  on  the  major 
subject,  I  resolved  to  first  take  examination  for  the 
Ph.  D.  degree.  I  therefore  submitted  my  thesis  for 
such  degree.  The  law  prescribed  that  after  such  a 
thesis  was  presented  and  approved,  the  candidate  had 
to  pass  examination  in  one  major  and  two  minor 
subjects.  After  my  thesis  had  been  accepted,  I 
presented  myself  for  examination,  selecting  as  major, 
as  the  law  prescribed,  history,  as  minors,  philosophy 
and  classic  philology.  My  examiners  were,  for 
history,  Buedinger,  for  philosophy  Robert  Zimmer- 
man (1824-1898),  and  for  philology  Karl  Schcnkl. 
It  so  happened  that  the  main  dignitaries  connected 
with  the  examination  and  the  public  conferment  of  the 
degrees  were  historians.  The  Rector  Magnificus  of 
the  University  for  the  year  was  Ottokar  Lorenz,  and 
the  dean  of  the  department  of  philosophy  Heinrich 
von  Zeissberg,  the  tutor  of  (Vown  Prince  Rudolf,  who 
ended  so  unfortunately. 

My  first  impression  was  one   of   considerable  fright. 
Having  been  brought  up  in  a  little  town   in  modest 


58  SCROLLS 

circumstances  and  taught  in  the  atmosphere  of 
an  Austrian  "Gymnasium"  to  look  up  with  awe  to 
anybody  in  authority,  I  had  failed  to  introduce 
myself  to  some  of  the  examiners.  Professor  Zimmer- 
mann,  the  philosopher,  told  me  in  plain  language 
that  I  had  committed  a  great  tactical  blunder  and 
Professor  Schenkl  did  the  same.  The  next  trouble 
was  that,  when  Zimmermann  asked  me,  what  I  had 
studied,  I  said  I  had  studied  Spinoza.  I  learned  now 
that  the  rules  of  examination  for  Ph.  D.  prescribed 
that  the  candidate  must  first  name  one  depart- 
ment of  philosophy,  before  he  can  select  one  special 
philosopher.  This,  however,  was  passed  over  very 
soon  because  Zimmermann  himself  helped  me, 
saying:  "Inasmuch  as  you  say  you  have  studied 
Spinoza,  I  take  it  for  granted  that  you  have  paid 
particular  attention  to  ethics."  I  naturally  answered 
affirmatively,  though  outside  of  Spinoza's  ethics  I 
had  not  made  any  special  study  in  that  branch. 
In  history  I  was  well  prepared,  and  as  the  examiner 
confined  himself  to  the  period  with  which  my  thesis 
dealt,  I  had  no  difficulty.  When  the  examination  in 
ethics  began,  things  did  not  seem  to  run  smoothly. 
I  was  asked  how  many  different  kinds  of  ethics  I 
thought  there  were,  and  I  had  to  admit  my  ignorance, 
but  when  the  examination  proceeded  along  Spinoza's 
system,  and  I  was  not  only  able  to  answer  the  ques- 
tions, but  could  quote  Spinoza's  words  fluently  in  the 
original  Latin,  I  noticed  that  Zimmermann's  face 
lit  up.  I  must  devote  to  this  man  a  few  remarks 
because  he  and  Karl  Neumann  (1823-1880),  professor 
of  ancient  history  in  Breslau,  were  the  two  men,  who, 


INTRODUCTION 


as  far  as  my  memory  serves  me  now,  had  the  most 
inspiring  influence  on  me  during  my  academic  career. 
Zimmermann's  appearance  was  striking,  with  his 
long  flowing  beard,  his  locks,  and  his  tightly  fitting 
"German  coat."  He  had  only  a  few  notes  on  his 
desk,  but  spoke  very  fluently,  and  had  a  very  fine 
delivery.  At  the  same  time  his  presentation  was 
exceedingly  clear,  which  especially  in  his  lectures  on 
history  of  philosophy,  is  not  a  general  experience. 
Similar  was  Neumann  in  Breslau,  who  came  usually 
with  a  well  prepared  "Kollegienheft,"  but  inter- 
rupted his  regular  course  by  remarks  which  he  de- 
livered, in  a  highly  impressive  manner  without  refer- 
ing  to  his  manuscript.  I  remember  especially  the 
profound  impression,  created  by  his  presentation  of 
the  struggle  for  economic  betterment  led  by  the 
Gracchus  brothers,  and  of  the  corruption  of  Roman 
society  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  military  triumphs 
under  Scipio  the  Younger.  It  sounded  like  a  political 
address  on  a  question  of  the  day.  Neumann  was  not 
very  active  in  literature,  and  his  main  work  was 
published  after  his  death  from  the  manuscript  of  his 
lectures.  He  put  his  whole  individuality,  his  ability 
and  his  learning  into  his  academic  work,  a  leature 
not  very  common  among  German  university  profes- 
sors. Robert  Zimmermann  was  a  similar  character. 
His  lectures  were  polished,  clear  in  thought,  and 
brilliant  in  diction. 

About  two  weeks  alter  the  examination  came  the 
official  "Promotion,"  at  which  a  regular  pageant  was 
formed  led  by  the  two  "Pedells"  in  uniform  bearing 
maces,  the  "Rector  Magnificus,"  the  dean  of  the  philo- 


60  SCROLLS 

sophic  department,  and  the  official  "promoter." 
The  details  of  the  ceremony  have  entirely  escaped  me. 
I  merely  remember  that  Ottokar  Lorenz  delivered  a 
commonplace  speech,  which  created  the  impression 
that  he  regarded  the  whole  ceremony  as  an  empty 
formality.  Altogether  during  his  administration  he 
was  a  disappointment  to  the  students.  As  this  is  an 
incident  connected  with  the  development  of  Austrian 
politics,  and  of  considerable  influence  on  the  position 
of  the  Jews,  I  shall  devote  a  few  words  to  it.  In 
1879  Austria  amended  its  constitution.  The  Reichs- 
rat,  formerly  composed  of  delegates  of  the  various 
provincial  diets,  was  now  elected  by  the  direct  vote 
of  the  electoral  districts.  The  premier  Count  Taaffe 
inaugurated  a  policy  which  abandoned  the  former 
hegemony  of  the  Germans,  trying  to  establish  a 
harmonious  presentation  of  the  various  nationalities, 
and  making  concessions  to  the  feudal  and  clerical 
elements.  This  aroused  the  opposition  of  the  Ger- 
man liberal  party,  which  was  in  control  of  the  uni- 
versity. In  some  way,  which  I  do  not  exactly  re- 
member, Professor  Lorenz  came  out  with  a  strong 
condemnation  of  the  new  course,  and  the  University 
in  order  to  emphasize  its  endorsement  of  these  views 
elected  him  "Rector  Magnificus."  For  the  informa- 
tion of  those  not  familiar  with  the  administration  of 
German  universities,  I  wish  to  add  that  the  universi- 
ties are  divided  into  four  departments,  "Facul- 
taeten,"  over  each  of  which  a  dean,  annually  elected, 
presides.  As  head  of  the  whole  university  a  "Rector 
Magnificus"  is  elected,  also  for  a  term  of  one  year,  the 
four  departments  electing  one  of  their  men  in  turn. 


INTRODUCTION  61 

Lorenz  was  elected,  although  his  turn  had  not  come. 
His  inaugural  address,  dealing  with  one  chapter  of 
Aristotle's  politics,  was  a  masterpiece.  He  began 
with  the  humorous  hit  on  the  philologists,  who  had 
finally  established  that  the  sixth  chapter  of  this  book 
ought  really  to  have  been  the  eighth,  or  something 
to  this  effect,  and  then  he  proceeded,  outlining 
Aristotle's  views,  and  showing  that  the  parliamentary 
form  of  government,  then  existing  in  Austria,  could 
not  have  been  classed  by  Aristotle  as  democracy,  but 
as  oligarchy.  Being  considered  a  representative  of 
liberalism,  he  created  quite  a  surprise,  when  on  one 
occasion  he  seemed  to  take  the  opposite  stand.  The 
largest  student  society  was  the  "Akademische  Lese- 
halle,"  which  on  some  question  connected  with  the 
school  law  passed  resolutions  condemning  the  policy 
of  the  government.  The  minister  of  education  de- 
manded that  this  action  be  rescinded,  and  threatened 
with  the  dissolution  of  the  society,  if  his  order  should 
not  be  obeyed.  Lorenz  met  with  the  students,  and 
pleaded  in  favor  of  complying  with  the  order  of  the 
government.  The  hot-headed  young  men  would  not 
listen,  and  the  society  was  dissolved  by  the  order  of 
the  minister.  It  was  in  the  club  rooms  of  this  society 
that  I  met  Theodor  Herzl,  a  year  younger  than  I, 
a  handsome  tall  young  man,  with  a  slight  mustache 
covering  his  lip.  I  regret  it  now  very  much,  that  I 
did  not  keep  an  exact  diary  in  those  days,  for  his 
remarks  on  his  relation  to  Judaism  would  possess  now 
considerable  historic  interest.  I  have  merely  a  faint 
recollection  that  he  spoke  of  Judaism  as  something 
which  had  no  real  interest  for  him.  I  belonged  to  the 


62  SCROLLS 

minority  that  opposed  the  identification  of  the 
society  with  the  German  liberal  party,  and  therefore 
was  connected  with  the  non-German  nationalities, 
among  whom  the  Slavonian  element  was  quite 
prominent.  It  may  be  added  here  that  Lorenz  after- 
wards continued  in  his  opposition  to  popular  ideas, 
and  took  the  part  of  Professor  von  Maassen,  who 
taught  canonical  law,  and  in  order  to  obtain  a  professor- 
ship in  this  subject,  had  converted  from  Protestantism 
to  Catholicism,  and  this  created  such  an  indignation 
amongst  the  students  that  Lorenz  resigned,  leaving 
Austria  and  spending  the  balance  of  his  life  in  Jena. 
The  opposition  to  popular  ideas,  and  the  desire  to 
show  the  other  side  of  a  question  was  a  typical 
feature  of  Lorenz's  character,  perhaps  the  true  temper 
of  a  historian.  In  his  lectures,  when  referring  to  the 
religious  struggles  of  the  sixteenth  century,  he  would 
speak  of  the  "Evangelical  Reformed"  and  the  "Tri- 
dentine Reformed"  (Roman  Catholic)  churches.  While 
he  held  his  office  as  "Rector  Magnificus,"  Vienna 
papers  reported  the  annual  Corpus  Christi  procession, 
which,  in  Vienna,  as  in  all  Catholic  countries,  is  a 
state's  affair,  the  Emperor  himself  with  all  dignitaries 
of  the  state,  taking  part.  The  papers  reported  that 
the  "Rector"  and  the  dignitaries  of  the  University 
were  seen  in  this  procession.  Lorenz  sent  a  letter  to 
the  press,  in  which  he  declared  that  this  report  was 
wrong,  and  could  not  be  true,  because  through  the 
constitution  of  1867,  the  universities  had  "finally" 
become  separated  from  the  church.  The  fact  that 
he  found  it  necessary  to  make  such  a  statement,  and 
the  emphatic  word  "endlich"  showed  his  view  of 


IXTR  0  D  U  CT  IO  .V  63 

this  question.  It  was  therefore  quite  a  disappoint- 
ment to  his  admirers,  that  he  should  have  taken  the 
part  of  the  clerical  von  Maassen.  The  unconvention- 
ality  of  his  character  was  also  shown  during  my 
examination.  Professor  Schenkl  gave  me  a  passage 
in  Tacitus'  "Annals"  to  interpret.  There  a  word 
signifying  some  kind  of  arms  occurred.  I  only  knew 
that  it  meant  some  kind  of  a  spear,  but  Professor 
Schenkl  wanted  to  know  more  about  it.  I  was 
sorry  I  could  not  oblige  him.  He  then  accommodated 
me  with  philological  punctiliousness,  giving  me  a 
description  to  which  I  listened  quite  attentively, 
feeling  that  the  more  time  he  consumed,  the  sooner 
the  half  hour  assigned  to  the  subject,  would  pass. 
Finally  Lorenz  pulled  his  colleague's  sleeve  and  said: 
"Lass  sein,  schon  genug." 

\Yith  a  feeling  of  pride,  because  I  had  not  told  my 
parents  the  exact  date  of  the  examination,  I  tele- 
graphed the  news  home,  and  had  the  pleasure  of  a 
real  vacation  during  the  short  time  between  the 
examination  and  the  public  "promotion."  German 
universities  do  not  have  a  regular  day  for  the  conferr- 
ing of  degrees,  but  bestow  them  individually.  In 
Vienna  on  account  of  the  large  number  of  students 
several  are  brought  together  for  the  public  function, 
and  in  my  case  there  were  three,  of  whom  I  remember 
only  one,  a  Jew,  Siegfried  Meckler,  who  in  response 
to  the  remarks  made  by  "His  Magnificence"  made  a 
speech  in  Latin,  for  which  he  had  asked  our  permission. 

My  vacation  I  spent  at  home,  preparatory  to  taking 
my  position  in  Bruenn,  to  which  I  had  been  previously 
elected,  with  the  understanding,  that  I  enter  upon 


64  SCROLLS 

the  duties  of  my  new  office  at  the  beginning  of  the 
fall  term.  This  position  may  be  described  as  that  of 
a  Sabbath  school  teacher,  although  owing  to  the  school 
system  of  Austria,  it  has  a  different  character.  This 
school  system  provides  for  religious  instruction,  as 
part  of  the  prescribed  curriculum,  both  in  primary  and 
secondary  schools.  Bruenn,  measured  by  European 
standards,  is  a  very  young  congregation.  The  Jews 
having  been  expelled  in  1454,  in  connection  with  the 
anti-Husitic  movement  which  was  led  by  the  Francis- 
can friar  John  Capistrano,  were  not  readmitted  until 
the  constitution  of  1848  abolished  the  restrictions 
on  the  right  of  residence.  Then  the  congregation 
grew  rapidly  and  had,  when  I  arrived  there  in  1881, 
about  6,000  souls  in  a  total  population  of  82,000. 
As  the  Jews  formed  a  small  percentage  in  the  schools, 
it  was  necessary  to  combine  the  pupils  of  various 
schools  outside  of  school  hours,  on  Wednesdays, 
Saturday  afternoons,  and  Sunday  mornings  to  give 
them  religious  instruction.  Only  in  a  few  schools, 
wrhere  the  number  of  Jewish  pupils  was  large,  the 
instruction  was  given  during  the  regular  school  time. 
The  congregation  had  advertised  for  a  teacher  with 
academic  training,  and  upon  my  application,  I  was 
elected  without  difficulty.  The  salary  of  600  florins 
per  annum  was  too  small  to  attract  many  candidates. 
The  object  in  electing  me  to  the  position  was  to  have 
a  suitable  candidate  in  readiness  for  the  position  of 
religious  instructor  in  the  secondary  schools,  then 
filled  by  Daniel  Ehrmann,27  whose  early  retirement 
was  contemplated.  Ehrmann  was  a  Bohemian  rabbi 
of  the  old  type,  an  autodidact  in  secular  studies,  and 
27Tewish  Encyclopedia,  V,  75. 


INTRODUCTION  65 


had  great  difficulty  in  maintaining  discipline  in  the 
classroom.  In  one  of  the  schools,  where  he  taught, 
the  Catholic  teacher  coined  the  "bon  mot"  that, 
when  he  entered  the  classroom,  Daniel  was  in  the 
lion's  den.  He  died  suddenly,  November  15th,  1882, 
and  this  being  in  the  middle  of  the  term,  the  usual 
proceedure,  demanding  a  public  advertisement  of 
the  vacancy  had  to  be  omitted,  and  I  was  recom- 
mended to  the  provincial  school  board,  to  till  the  va- 
cancy for  the  balance  of  theschool  year, and  appointed. 
The  legal  proceedure  in  filling  such  positions  is  this. 
The  appointment  rests  with  the  provincial  school 
board,  consisting  of  the  superintendents  of  education, 
and  representatives  of  churches  and  other  organiza- 
tions that  I  do  not  remember  in  detail,  presided  over  by 
the  governor.  This  board,  however,  is  bound  to  elect 
one  who  is  previously  approved  by  the  representatives 
of  the  Jewish  community.  The  salary  is  paid  from 
the  public  school  fund,  but  in  those  days  was  de- 
termined annually  by  the  number  of  hours  of  in- 
struction given.  I  had  to  teach  in  three  schools, 
two  "Gymnasiums"  and  one  "Realschule"  (science 
high  school).  There  was  another  "Realschule"  which 
had  so  few  Jewish  students  that  they  were  sent  to 
the  sister  institution  to  receive  their  instruction. 
All  these  schools  were  German,  there  being  two 
Slavic  (Czech)  institutions,  one  a  "Gymnasium"  and 
one  a  "Realschule,"  in  which  during  my  incumbency 
of  six  years,  only  one  student  was  enrolled.  After 
my  year  of  probation,  if  1  may  term  it  so,  I  was 
elected  to  serve  permanently,  beginning  with  tin- 
scholastic  year  of  1883.  My  experience  was  a 


66  SCROLLS 

pleasant  one,  although  I  still  expected  to  enter  secular 
teaching  in  history.  For  this  purpose  I  wrote  my 
examination  papers  in  the  three  subjects  previously 
mentioned,  which  were  approved,  but  did  not  pass  the 
oral  examination.  Conditions  had  meantime  become 
unfavorable  to  Jewish  candidates.  The  dearth  of 
properly  certified  candidates  for  positions  in  secondary 
schools,  created  by  the  closing  of  the  institutions 
under  church  control,  had  meantime  been  followed 
by  an  over-supply,  and  it  was  not  unusual  that  a 
candidate  had  to  wait  ten  years,  before  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  a  regular  position.  The  clerical  element 
had  gained  headway,  and  began  a  regular  attack  on 
the  liberal  school  law  of  1868,  which  the  government 
met  by  an  amended  school  law  of  1883,  too  intricate 
to  be  explained  in  detail,  but  intended  to  work  against 
Jewish  teachers  without  directly  altering  the  consti- 
tution, and  finally  my  duties  and  studies  kept  me  so 
busy  that  I  abandoned  the  plan  altogether. 

My  relation  with  the  school  authorities  was  quite 
pleasant.  The  member  of  the  provincial  school 
board,  to  whose  department  my  position  was  assigned 
was  Dr.  Joseph  Naacke,  a  liberal,  almost  a  cynic  in 
religious  matters,  who  to  me  privately  expressed 
opinions,  which  very  likely  he  kept  to  himself,  when 
speaking  to  the  Catholic  teachers.  When  I  made  my 
first  visit  to  his  office,  before  receiving  my  appoint- 
ment, he  said  to  me:  "I  shall  be  frank  with  you. 
Personally  I  am  very  much  in  doubt  whether  re- 
ligious instruction  has  any  value  at  all,  but  if  it  is 
given  in  a  manner,  as  was  the  case  with  your  prede- 
cessor, who  was  unable  to  keep  order  in  the  classroom, 


I  NT  RO  DUCT  ION  67 


it  is  directly  harmful.  In  his  case,  being  an  old  man, 
we  were  indulgent,  but  in  the  case  of  a  young  man, 
such  conditions  will  not  be  tolerated."  He  spoke  also 
freely  of  the  Catholic  religion.  "When  I  was  a  little 
boy,"  he  said,  "and  I  heard  the  chant  'Per  omnia 
saecula  saeculorum'  I  was  profoundly  impressed,  but 
when  I  had  learned  enough  Latin  to  know  that  it  was 
a  meaningless  tautology,  I  began  to  be  an  infidel,  as 
far  as  ecclesiastical  conception  of  religion  goes."  As 
the  two  classes  of  high  schoools  were  assigned  to  two 
departments,  my  course  was  inspected  by  two  different 
superintendents.  I  also  had  to  examine  teachers 
who  applied  for  a  certificate  in  primary  schools, 
religion  being  one  of  the  subjects  in  which  they  were 
examined.  This  department  was  under  the  super- 
vision of  a  third  inspector.  But  my  duties  in  this 
branch  were  light.  The  amended  school  law  of  1883 
had  the  effect  that  both  normal  schools  for  men  and 
women  were  soon  deserted  by  Jewish  students. 
The  regular  proceedure  in  appointments  was  that  a 
graduate  of  n  normal  school  received  his  first  position 
in  a  village.  The  village  schools,  usually  having 
only  one  room,  made  the  teacher  principal,  and  the 
new  law  prescribed  that  the  principal  should  be  of 
the  same  religion  as  the  majority  of  the  pupils. 
The  consequence  was  that  a  Jewish  candidate  would 
have  to  wait  until  a  vacancy  occurred  in  one  of  the 
schools  of  a  larger  city,  which  again  was  autonomous, 
and  would  not  readily  appoint  a  Jew,  and  finally  if 
he  succeeded  in  obtaining  such  an  appointment, 
he  could  hardly  expect  to  advance  to  the  position  of 
a  principal,  there  being  in  Austria,  with  the  exception 


68  SCROLLS 

of  Vienna,  hardly  any  schools  having  a  majority  of 
Jewish  children.  The  main  difficulty  in  my  position 
was  that  while  my  appointment  was  for  a  life  tenure, 
it  wras  temporary  in  so  far  as  my  salary  was  fixed  from 
year  to  year,  and  I  could  not  lay  claim  to  a  pension 
after  thirty  years  of  service,  as  was  the  case  not  only 
with  the  teachers  of  secular  subjects,  but  also  with 
the  teachers  of  the  Catholic  religion.  I  made  an 
attempt  to  have  my  position  placed  in  the  rank  of 
the  regular  high  school  professors,  laying  my  claims 
before  the  newly  appointed  minister  of  education 
Baron  von  Gautsch,  afterwards  premier.  He  was  a 
young  man  then,  and  showed  the  usual  disposition  of 
young  men,  to  favor  radical  changes,  usually  avoided 
by  seasoned  bureaucrats.  The  question  had  to  go 
its  regular  course,  from  the  provincial  authorities  to 
the  central  administration.  My  friend,  Dr.  Naacke, 
with  his  usual  frankness,  told  me,  "If  you  hand  such  a 
petition  to  the  provincial  school  board,  it  will  be 
turned  down,  because  the  sentiment  is  not  favorable 
to  the  idea  of  placing  Judaism  on  the  same  level  with 
the  Catholic  church,  but  if  you  present  the  matter  to 
the  minister  directly,  and  he  should  show  himself 
favorably  inclined,  the  provincial  school  board  will 
hardly  oppose  his  view."  He  added,  however,  that 
he  did  not  consider  such  an  eventuality  probable. 
It  turned  out  differently.  I  went  to  Vienna  during 
the  Christmas  vacation  of  1885,  and  laid  my  request 
personally  before  His  Excellency.  There  I  learned 
for  the  first  time  something  about  the  usual  method 
of  pull,  preceding  official  appointments,  but  in  spite 
of  a  comparatively  early  acquaintance,  I  have  not 
acquired  much  liking  for  it.  The  minister  sent  my 


IXTRO  Dl'CT  IOX  W 

application,  with  a  few  blue-penciled  remarks  back 
to  the  provincial  government,  which  in  bureaucratic 
language  meant  that  he  expected  favorable  action. 
It  is  worth  while  recording  that  the  Jewish  member 
of  the  provincial  board,  Julius  von  Gomperz,  (1823- 
1909), 28  though  appointed  to  support  Jewish  interests, 
strongly  dissuaded  me.  He  was  a  type  of  the 
"Shtadlan"  of  old,  a  Jew  almost  in  name  only,  and 
perhaps  feeling  like  his  brother,  Theodor,  professor 
of  philosophy  at  the  University  of  Vienna,  who 
frankly  states  in  his  autobiography  that  he  regretted 
not  having  converted  to  Christianity  early  in  life. 
Julius  von  Gomperz,  a  member  of  that  prominent 
family,  to  whose  history  David  Kaufmann  has  de- 
voted such  painstaking  study .2J  \\as  president  of  the 
Jewish  congregation  for  many  years.  He  stood  very 
high  in  public  life,  being  for  many  years  president  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  member  of  the  provincial 
diet  of  Moravia,  of  the  Reichsrat,  and  afterwards  of 
the  House  of  Lords.  His  attitude  to  Jewish  affairs 
was  rather  cold.  It  seems  to  have  been  dictated  by 
the  sentiment  that  Judaism  has  to  be  represented  by 
people  of  high  standing,  who  would  make  it  as  in- 
conspicuous as  possible  to  impress  the  leading  circles 
with  the  fundamental  article  of  assimilationism  that 
a  Jew  is  not  different  from  his  fellow  citizens.  In 
spite  of  the  favorable  position  taken  by  the  minister, 
and  my  personal  endorsement  by  the  provincial 
board  of  education,  no  action  was  taken,  until  years 
after  I  had  left  Kurope. 

28Jc\vish  Encyclopedia,  VI,  14. 

29Kaufmann  und  Freudenthal:       Die      Fumilic      (iomperz, 
Berlin,  1907. 


70  SCROLLS 

This  failure  to  obtain  what  I  considered  necessary 
in  order  to  secure  my  future,  made  me  change  my 
former  resolution  not  to  enter  the  rabbinate.  This 
was  not  due  to  religious  scruples,  as  I  have  already 
observed,  but  rather  the  reverse.  I  wished  to  serve 
Judaism  in  an  independent  position.  While  in 
Vienna,  though  cut  loose  from  theological  studies, 
I  was  a  regular  attendant  at  the  services  of  some 
orthodox  synagog,  and  strictly  observant  in  all 
ritualistic  matters.  I  refused  a  very  good  offer  to 
become  tutor  in  a  wealthy  family  because  of  my 
observance  of  the  dietary  laws.  While  engaged  in 
my  philosophical  and  historical  studies,  I  frequently 
attended  the  Beth  Hamidrash,  and  once  a  week  re- 
mained there  until  midnight  studying  Talmud,  to- 
gether with  a  friend,  a  young  business  man.  WThen 
I  came  to  Bruenn  I  also  attended  the  services  in  a 
little  orthodox  synagog  that  had  its  inception  from 
a  time  previous  to  the  readmission  of  the  Jews  to  the 
city,  serving  then  as  a  place  of  worship  to  those  who 
came  on  business  especially  during  the  fair  times, 
when  Jews  from  all  parts  of  the  country  had  the 
right  to  remain  in  the  city  even  over  night.  For  the 
sake  of  my  principle,  I  refused  to  accept  a  position 
as  assistant  rabbi,  although  in  the  last  year,  when  an 
old  Dajan,  Veit  Frischauer,30  a  representative  of  the 
old  school,  had  died,  I  occasionally  substituted  the 
rabbi,  Dr.  Baruch  Placzek,  at  weddings  and  funerals. 
Dr.  Placzek,  born  in  1835,  was  then  in  the  prime  of 
manhood,  and  when  I  arrived  in  Bruenn,  his  father, 
Abraham  Placzek,  rabbi  in  Boskowitz,  a  town  about 
thirty  miles  from  Bruenn,  was  still  living.  Rabbi 
3°He  died  May  19,  1886  at  the  age  of  83. 


INTRODUCTION  71 


Abraham/'1  born  in  1799,  was  a  sympathetic  repre- 
sentative of  the  old  school,  a  good  Talmudic  scholar, 
and  strictly  observant.  He  was  free  from  fanaticism 
and,  without  a  fixed  standard  of  how  far  he  would  go 
in  accommodating  himself  to  the  demands  of  the  new 
era,  was  tolerant.  He  often  urged  me  to  enter  the 
rabbinate,  and  as  this  is  typical  for  the  sentiment  of 
men  of  his  type,  I  shall  relate  a  story  of  his  own  life, 
as  he  told  it  to  me,  regretting  that  I  cannot  give  it  in 
his  homely  conversational  Yiddish.  "I  can  under- 
stand your  position,"  he  said.  "When  I  was  a  young 
man  I  prayed  that  God  should  spare  me  the  necessity 
of  entering  the  rabbinate,  and  when  I  finally  accepted 
my  first  position,  and  people  would  come,  as  is  cus- 
tomary, at  the  two  seasons  of  the  year,  on  Purim  and 
the  great  holydays,  and  give  me  their  donations,  it 
fairly  burned  my  fingers.  I  put  it  in  the  drawer,  and 
did  not  even  look  at  it.  By  and  by  1  became  recon- 
ciled to  my  fate,  feeling  it  was  God's  will  that  I 
should  be  a  rabbi."  After  his  death  the  congregation 
could  not  easily  decide  on  a  successor.  The  old  man 
had  held  his  office  for  forty-five  years,  and  had  im- 
pressed his  community  with  his  unique  type  so  that 
a  man  of  modern  training  would  surely  find  it  difficult 
to  meet  the  requirements.  It  was  nearly  two  years 
after  his  death,  that  I  was  asked  to  accept  the  posi- 
tion. Almost  at  the  same  time,  again  without  any 
solicitation  on  my  part,  I  was  invited  to  come  to 
Bruex.  in  Bohemia,  with  the  view  of  filling  the  pulpit 
there.  My  conditions  were  that  my  candidacy 
should  be  decided  on  the  day  following  my  trial 
31Je\vish  Encyclopedia,  x,  69. 


72  SCROLLS 

sermon,     This   condition   was   accepted,    and    I    was 
promptly  elected. 

I  had  now  to  choose  between  two  positions,  if  I  did 
not  prefer  to  remain  in  Bruenn,  which  some  of  my 
well  meaning  friends  considered  the  proper  thing  to  do. 
Boskowitz,  like  all  the  old  Moravian  congregations, 
that  owed  their  existence  to  the  legal  restrictions  on 
residence,  was  declining.  In  addition,  I  knew  that  I 
had  to  face  an  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  small 
strictly  orthodox  element,  amongst  whom  was  a 
highly  respectable,  very  wealthy  old  man,  in  whose 
house  I  had  often  enjoyed  hospitality.  He  had 
nothing  against  me  personally,  but  as  someone 
wittily  remarked,  he  would  have  a  rabbi  like  the  late 
Abraham  Placzek,  only  a  little  "frummer."  Bruex 
was  a  new  and  rising  congregation.  Situated  in  the 
German  north-west  of  Bohemia,  at  the  foot  of  Erzge- 
birge,  close  to  the  border  of  Saxony,  and  in  the  center 
of  a  flourishing  industrial  district,  it  had  developed 
writhin  twenty  years  from  very  small  beginnings, 
into  a  congregation  of  120  members.  Bruex  is  a  so- 
called  "royal  city,"  which  means  that  under  the  feudal 
system  it  had  its  autonomous  administration,  inde- 
pendent of  the  lords  of  manor.  Like  many  such 
cities,  it  expelled  its  Jews,  who  cannot  have  been 
very  numerous,  in  the  fifteenth  century.  From  that 
time  on,  Jews  were  not  permitted  to  reside  in  the  city, 
but  came  from  surrounding  villages  close  by  to  do 
business  during  the  day.  Perhaps  due  to  the  fact 
that  these  villages  were  so  close  to  the  city,  it  took 
longer  until  Jewrs  became  permanent  residents,  and 
it  was  not  until  1868,  that  a  congregation  was  estab- 


INTRODUCTION 


lished.  The  majority  of  the  members  had  come  from 
t\vo  villages,  Harreth  and  Lischnitz,  being  within  a 
walking  distance  from  the  city.  It  was  comical  to 
observe,  how  the  two  factions,  at  least  in  their  older 
representatives,  opposed  each  other.  Harreth,  a 
village  of  about  300  people,  with  some  twenty  Jewish 
families,  considered  itself  a  metropolis.  It  had  its 
own  synagog  building,  and  a  well-to-do,  compara- 
tively better  educated  membership,  with  a  physician 
in  their  midst.  Lischnitz  was  smaller,  its  population 
poorer,  and  a  garret  room  served  as  a  synagog. 
When  I  arrived  in  Bruex,  Harreth  had  been  com- 
pletely deserted  by  its  Jewish  inhabitants,  with  the 
exception  of  one  deaf  mute  old  woman,  who  lived  in  a 
house  left  to  her  by  her  father,  but  sold  under  the  con- 
dition that  she  remain  in  possession  during  her  life 
time.  Lischnitz  had  still  a  handful  of  Jews,  with  a 
"Shochet,"  a  glazier,  who  had  come  from  Galicia  and 
married  a  girl  of  this  pkice.  There  were,  of  course,  a 
number  of  people  coming  from  other  villages  in  the 
neighborhood,  similarly  depleted,  and  others  from 
larger  distances.  The  diversity  of  habits  made  the 
organization  of  the  community  difficult,  and  in  the 
short  time  of  its  existence,  it  had  had  three  rabbis. 
When  I  arrived,  the  process  of  amalgamation  had 
been  developed  considerably,  due  especially  to  the 
president,  Dr.  Joseph  Spitz,  a  prominent  lawyer,  and  a 
genial  personality,  who  as  a  young  man  in  the  thirties 
had  been  elected  because  it  was  felt  that  the  old 
element  of  the  village  Kehillahs,  were  not  the  proper 
people  to  represent  the  Jewish  community.  The 
most  interesting  type  of  the  old  village  Kehillah  was 


74  SCROLLS 

the  old  Hazan  and  Schochet,  Getsch,  or  as  he  was 
officially  called,  Karl  Stampfer,  who  had  served  the 
community  of  Harreth  for  thirty  years  or  so  before 
he  came  to  Bruex  with  his  flock.  He  had  outgrown 
his  usefulness  to  some  extent,  and  the  congregation 
had  elected  a  modern  cantor,  while  Stampfer  officiated 
as  his  assistant  and  as  Schochet.  Had  I  taken  longer 
to  deliberate  on  the  choice  of  positions,  I  would  prob- 
ably have  remained  in  Bruenn,  but  I  wished  to  make 
a  quick  decision,  and  so  I  entered  upon  my  new  office 
in  September,  1887,  a  few  days  before  Rosh  Hasha- 
nah.  My  position  was  quite  pleasant  and  the  duties 
not  too  onerous,  indeed  far  more  easy  than  in  Bruenn, 
where  I  had  to  rush  from  one  school  building  to 
another  and  to  bear  the  names  of  more  than  400 
students  in  my  mind,  with  all  the  concomitant 
pastoral  duties,  when  a  mother  pleaded  with  me  to  do 
something  for  Arthur,  who  was  threatened  with 
failure  in  mathematics,  or  a  poor  father  tried  to  enlist 
my  assistance  in  obtaining  remission  of  the  tuition 
fee  of  Moritz,  or  when  I  had  to  smooth  out  affairs 
arising  from  a  breach  of  discipline,  not  counting  many 
other  similar  communal  duties  cast  upon  a  man  in  a 
prominent  position.  A  few  months,  after  I  had 
entered  upon  my  position  in  Bruex,  I  married,  (May 
10,  1888),  and  domestic  life  in  a  small  city  of  12,000 
aided  me  in  overcoming  the  difficulties  of  accomo- 
dating  myself  to  the  narrower  condition  of  my  en- 
vironment, and  to  the  social  obligations,  which  in 
my  former  position  as  a  government  official,  I  did  not 
have  to  regard.  If  there  was  anything  which  made 
me  look  for  a  change,  it  was  just  the  narrowness  of 


INTRO  DUCT  I  OX  75 


conditions,  and  the  desire  to  study,  for  which  the 
small  town  offered  no  opportunity.  I  therefore  was 
glad  when  I  read  in  some  German  weekly  paper  an 
advertisement  inviting  candidates  for  the  position 
of  professor  of  history  and  philosophy  in  the  Hebrew 
Union  College.  I  had  heard  of  Isaac  M.  Wise, 
through  a  friend  of  his,  Adam  Sattler,  a  retired  teacher 
in  my  community,  who  had  been  serving  as  teacher 
in  Radnitz,  when  Dr.  Wise  officiated  there  as  rabbi. 
Besides,  I  had  that  usual  enthusiastic  belief  in  America 
and  its  opportunities,  and  above  all,  was  anxious  to 
devote  myself  to  my  specialty.  To  my  letter, 
addressed  to  Dr.  Wise  personally,  asking  for  details, 
I  received  a  prompt  and  very  kind  reply,  which 
practically  said  that  the  position  was  mine,  if  I  would 
state  definitely  my  desire  to  accept  it.  I  naturally 
hesitated  because  to  one  used  to  life  in  small  towns, 
such  a  change  is  a  matter  of  great  importance.  I 
wrote  accordingly,  and  received  a  letter,  which  seemed 
to  me  rather  cool,  but  only  three  days  later  I  received 
a  second  letter,  dated  July  24,  1891,  in  which  Dr. 
Wise  says:  "I  forgot  in  my  letter  to  mention  the 
main  point.  I  shall  not  present  any  other  candidate, 
until  I  hear  from  you  definitely  whether  you  will 
accept  or  not,  and  shall  wait  until  September  1st. 
It  is  my  wish  to  see  you  at  this  post.  While  I  will 
not  obligate  myself  to  anything  which  is  not  in  your 
contract,  I  can  safely  say  that  the  College  stands 
firmly  like  the  mountains,  and  is  deeply  rooted  in  the 
love  and  respect  of  the  American  congregations." 
My  letter  of  acceptance  followed,  and  on  the  17th  of 
August,  1891,  I  received  a  cablegram:  "Klected, 


76  SCROLLS 

come  soon,  have  written."  This  decided  the  mat- 
ter, and  on  the  20th  of  November,  1891,  I  left 
Cuxhaven  on  the  "Fuerst  Bismarck,"  then  the 
largest  and  fastest  boat  afloat,  arriving  at  Hoboken  on 
Saturday,  November  28th,  and  in  Cincinnati,  on 
December  2,  1891.  The  history  of  the  subsequent 
quarter  of  a  century,  I  leave  to  some  other  writer,  if 
one  should  find  it  worth  his  while,  or  if  I  should  be 
granted  sufficient  leisure,  and  physical  health  in 
years  of  retirement,  I  may  do  so  later,  adding  some 
features  of  Jewish  "Kulturgeschichte"  to  those  re- 
lated, and  leaving  it  to  posterity  to  decide,  whether 
they  will  find  my  notes  as  interesting  and  instructive 
as  those  of  Leon  Modena,  of  Glueckel  von  Hameln, 
and  of  Jacob  Emden,  the  latter  in  many  ways  to  me 
a  model  of  learning  and  forceful  character. 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  JEWISH  HISTORY.* 

HISTORY  requires  an  inductive  method.  From 
individual  facts  one  ascends  to  principles. 
Facts  have  to  be  arranged  in  a  systematic  manner.  In 
this  respect  the  historian  stands  above  the  chronicler 
as  an  archeological  museum  stands  above  a  second 
hand  shop.  On  the  other  hand,  the  mere  philosophist 
with  a  stock  of  high  sounding  phrases  is  no  historian. 
First  we  must  know,  and  afterward  we  may  reason,  says 
the  Talmud1.  Let  us  therefore  Urn  to  facts  at  once. 
On  the  twentieth  of  December,  1860  a  few  intelligent 
Jews  of  St.  Petersburg  founded  a  society  for  the  dis- 
semination of  enlightenment.  This  is  in  itself  an 
unimportant  event.  The  historical  character  comes 
from  the  typical  in  it.  Czar  Alexander  II.  has  aband- 
oned the  rigorous  despotism  of  his  predecessor  Nicho- 
las I.  He  is  willing  to  compromise  with  \\estern  ideas. 
An  era  of  transition  seems  to  be  in  progress,  similar 
to  that  of  western  Europe  during  the  first  halt  of  this 
century.  The  condition  of  the  Jews  is  somewhat  im- 
proved. Therefore  the  more  educated  class  of  the 
Jews  feel  that  they  have  to  do  something  in  order  to 
deserve  the  good-will  of  their  ruler.  The  "Chossid" 
of  Volhynia  can  not  become  a  Russian  citizen.  He 
keeps  aloof  from  both  the  intellectual  and  the  social 
life  of  his  environment.  He  speaks  a  language  which 
is  peculiarly  his  own.  He  dresses  in  a  garb  which  has 

*  H.  I".  C.   Journal,  Vol.  IV,  pages  166-176,  Jiuu>,   1QOO. 
1  Sabbath,  63,  a. 


78  SCROLLS 

become  distinctively  Jewish.  He  considers  it  his  relig- 
ious duty  to  remain  apart  from  his  surroundings. 
He  believes  in  a  special  miraculous  gift  bestowed  upon 
his  saints,  he  considers  scientific  education  a  sin. 
Shall  he  become  a  citizen  of  the  land  in  which 
he  lives  he  must  amalgamate  with  it,  he  must  speak 
its  language,  he  must  promote  its  culture,  he  must 
participate  in  its  intellectual  life,  he  must  engage  in 
such  pursuits  as  are  considered  honorable,  in  agricul- 
ture, in  mechanical  arts,  and  in  the  learned  professions. 
Unfortunately  some  individuals  who  followed  that 
course  had  drifted  away  from  Judaism  altogether, 
and  therefore  the  Jew  of  the  old  type  considers  partici- 
pation in  modern  civilization  equal  to  apostacy  from 
Judaism.  He  must  therefore  be  shown  that  his  tenac- 
ity caused  that  feeling,  he  must  be  shown  that  Juda- 
ism is  compatible  with  the  highest  culture  of  our  age, 
as  it  was  compatible  with  the  highest  culture  of  the 
1 2th  century  in  Mohammedan  Spain  or  \vith  the  highest 
culture  of  the  first  century  in  Hellenic  Alexandria. 
Culture  must  be  brought  to  him  through  the  medium 
of  the  Hebrew  language,  by  rabbis  of  modern  educa- 
tion, in  the  schools  where  his  children  acquire  their 
religious  knowledge. 

Turning  from  this  individual  fact  again  to  general 
principles  we  find  the  philosophy  of  history  based  on 
the  ground  of  the  following  four  empiric  facts: 

1.  The  chief  forces  of  human  history  are  the  same 
in  all  ages; 

2.  The  strongest  force  in  shaping  history  is  oppo- 
sition; 

3.  There  is  a  vis  inertiae  in  spiritual  as  well  as  in 
corporeal  life; 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  JEWISH   HISTORY         79 

4.  Life  is  a  compromise  between  ideal  and  reality, 
i.  e.  between  theoretic  principles  and  actual  conditions. 

We  shall  now  attempt  to  demonstrate  the  correct- 
ness of  these  principles  in  Jewish  history. 

The  chief  forces  of  human  history,  I  said,  are  the 
same  in  all  ages.  The  motives  for  man's  actions  are 
found  mainly  in  his  selfishness.  Life  has  also  imper- 
ative demands.  Man  needs  food,  needs  shelter  and 
loves  comfort.  In  order  to  satisfy  his  demands  he 
will  become  active,  energetic,  restless,  even  violent. 
Man's  selfishness  and  his  innate  love  of  comfort  will 
make  him  ambitious.  Why?  Simply,  because  all 
comfort  is  relative.  A  tramp  making  a  trip  from 
Germany  to  Italy,  hiding  in  an  empty  freight-car 
travels  in  luxurious  comfort  when  he  compares  his 
situation  with  that  of  the  German  kings  of  medieval 
times,  when  they  went  to  Rome  to  receive  the  crown 
of  the  Roman  emperors.  But  he  does  not  see  his 
situation  in  this  light,  he  will  compare  it  rather  with 
that  of  the  fellow-being  who  travels  in  the  comfortable 
waggon  de  lit,  and  so  will  the  latter.  This  comfort 
comes  from  the  relative  judgment.  Any  tenement 
in  the  down-town  portion  of  Xew  York  City  furnishes 
more  comforts  than  the  mansion  of  the  patrician  in 
the  ghetti  of  I-Yankfort,  Prague  or  Rome  a  century 
ago.  It  has  gas  light,  it  has  a  hydrant,  furnishing 
water  at  all  times  and  in  any  quantity,  it  has  better 
heating  facilities  than  Maier  Amschel  Rothschild 
had  ever  known.  Still  the  people  living  in  those 
tenements  naturally  will  compare  their  situation  with 
those  of  the  dwellers  in  the  aristocratic  mansions,  and 
vice  versa.  Maier  Amschel  Rothschild  felt  comfor- 


80  SCROLLS 

table  in  the  ghetto  because  his  situation  was  infinitely 
superior  to  that  of  so  many  others  who  breathed  the 
same  air  with  him. 

Ambition  and  jealousy  consequently  have  reigned 
all  through  the  ages  of  the  world's  history.  But  there 
are  some  people  who  prefer  a  portion  of  herbs  in 
peace  to  the  stalled  ox  which  requires  so  much  care. 
They  feel  contented  in  their  resignation.  Such  people 
also  existed  in  all  ages. 

By  the  laws  of  nature  parents  love  their  children. 
They  wish  to  see  them  happier,  wealthier  and  wiser 
than  they  themselves  have  been.  The  king  on  the 
throne,  the  peasant  behind  the  plow,  the  troglodyte 
in  prehistoric  times  and  the  financier  in  the  twentieth 
century,  the  mechanic  in  his  shop,  the  pope  in  his 
labyrinthian  palace  have  been,  are,  and  will  be 
actuated,  by  the  motive  to  bequeathe  to  those  nearest 
them  the  inheritance  which  they  have  received,  aug- 
mented, strengthened  and  protected  against  future 
reverses. 

The  modern  financier  will  create  a  trust  for  his 
profligate  son  in  order  to  secure  to  him  the  advantages 
of  the  fortune  accumulated  by  his  father.  A  mem- 
ber of  the  landed  aristocracy  in  Germany  or  in  Austria 
will  press  a  bill  through  legislature  making  his  estate 
a  fideicommisum  so  that  his  son  might  be  secure 
in  the  undisturbed  possession  of  his  immense  estates. 
Napoleon  obtained  a  divorce  from  the  woman  he 
loved  because  he  wished  an  heir  to  whom  he  could 
transfer  the  results  of  his  military  achievements. 
Rabbi  Judah  Ha-nasi  made  use  of  his  authority  by 
appointing  as  his  successor  his  son  Gamaliel,  whom 


PHILOSOPHY   OF   JEWISH    HISTORY         81 

our  sources  call  a  small  man.  The  Polish  rabbi  of  our 
day  will  do  the  same,  the  American  rabbi  would  if  he 
could. 

Great  manufacturers  introduce  bills  into  legislatures 
securing  high  protective  tariffs  or  maritime  subsidies 
in  order  to  advance  their  commercial  interests. 
The  rabbis  of  Jerusalem  in  1509  issued  an  order  that 
no  one  should  impose  any  tax  on  talmudic  scholars, 
no  matter  how  wealthy  they  might  be,  and  in  1629 
Yom  Tob  Lipr.ian  Heller,  then  rabbi  of  Prague,  is 
accused  of  favoring  the  rich  in  the  assessment  of 
taxes.  I  recently  expressed  to  a  member  of  the 
Reprasentanteti,  the  congregational  board  of  Berlin, 
my  astonishment  at  the  remarkable  fact  that  such  an 
enlightened  body  should  still  be  actuated  by  the  false 
desire  to  strengthen  religion  through  the  assistance  of 
the  state.  The  gentleman  replied:  The  worst  of- 
fenders in  this  respect  are  the  rabbis.  They  look 
with  great  envy  upon  the  fellow-members  of  their 
profession  in  the  German  South,  where  the  state 
guarantees  their  position.  They  would  like  to  be 
appointed  by  the  state,  but  they  would  hate  to  receive 
their  salaries  from  the  state,  because  they  kno\\  they 
are  bettei  off  when  they  are  paid  from  congregational 
coffers. 

2.  The  strongest  force  in  history,  I  said,  is  oppo- 
sition. This  is  an  undisputable  fact,  although  we  are 
not  always  conscious  of  it.  As  Jews  we  are  at  a 
loss  to  define  our  position  so  as  to  do  justice  to  all 
views  on  Judaism.  The  Central  Conference  of  Ameri- 
can Rabbis  in  1898  appointed  a  committee  to  frame 
a  set  of  principles  comprising  the  essential  doctrines 


82  SCROLLS 

of  Judaism.  This  committee  has  not  reported.  Sup- 
pose it  should  bring  in  a  report  which  would  have 
the  unanimous  approval  of  all  its  members,  a  possi- 
bility which  is  by  no  means  a  probability.  Suppose 
that  all  American  Judaism  including  the  Portuguese 
congregations  of  the  ancient  type  and  the  orthodox 
of  Russian  descent  as  well  as  the  radicals  of  the  left 
wing,  were  to  adopt  it,  would  it  be  approved  by  the 
orthodox  of  Germany  of  the  Hildesheimer  type,  would 
it  be  accepted  by  the  somewhat  darker  shade  of 
orthodoxy  as  represented  by  the  school  of  the  late 
rabbi  Seligmann  Baer  Bamberger  of  Wuerzburg, 
would  it  be  acceptable  to  the  Rabbi  of  Kowno,  to  the 
Hasidim  community  clustered  around  the  saint  of 
Sadagora  or  to  the  communities  of  Tripoli  and  Moroc- 
co? Hardly!  But  one  thing  all  these  shades  of 
opinion  have  in  common.  It  is  the  consciousness  that 
they  are  not  Christians. 

This  feature  is  by  no  means  unique  in  Judaism. 
Take  the  whole  range  of  religious  views  comprised 
under  the  name  of  Protestant  churches.  Here  we 
have  the  Episcopal  church  teaching  that  priests  have 
the  right  to  forgive  sins,  having  in  their  churches  altars, 
crucifixes,  vestments  and  a  number  of  other  features 
which  the  Puritans  would  consider  as  heathenish  or 
popish  ritualism.  Here  you  have  the  Presbyterian 
church  teaching  that  every  word  in  the  Bible  is 
inspired,  there  you  have  ministers  and  professors  in 
theological  seminaries  who  teach  both  in  their  lectures 
and  in  their  published  works  that  the  whole  story 
of  Jesus'  birth  is  a  mythical  fabrication,  that  his  resur- 
rection was  a  hallucination,  a  dream  of  mystics,  that 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  JEWISH   HISTORY        S3 

the  Pentateuch  is  composed  of  many  independent 
fragmentary  writings  each  of  \vhich  had  a  different 
character  and  represented  a  different  religion.  We 
have  had  evangelical  congressesof  late  at  which  speakers 
declared  that  Jesus  was  not  infallible,  that  some  of  the 
moral  principles  which  he  taught  were  fallacies  due 
to  the  limitations  of  his  age,  while  we  hear  on  all 
street-corners  the  doctrine  preached  that  society  can 
not  be  moral,  public  life  can  never  be  sound,  individ- 
uals can  never  be  happy,  unless  we  turn  back  to  the 
Savior. 

Still  all  this  galaxy  of  opinions  is  found  in  the  one 
Protestant  church.  What  unites  them  is  their 
opposition  to  the  church  of  Rome.  It  is  negation 
not  assertion  which  is  the  best  expression  of  our  ideas. 

Let  us  leave  the  field  of  religious  and  turn  to  po- 
litical history.  What  could  have  attracted  the  sym- 
pathies of  the  Irish  Roman  Catholic  population  to  the 
Boers  \vhodisenfranchised  all  Roman  Catholics?  The 
antagonism  to  England.  Why  should  the  descendants 
of  the  Bourbon  Kings  have  rejected  the  French  tri- 
color and  demanded  the  traditional  lilies?  Because 
the  tricolor  owes  its  existence  to  the  revolution.  The 
Conservatives  in  the  Prussian  diet  were  opposed  to 
the  building  ot  a  navy  because  the  first  impetus  for 
that  innovation  had  come  from  the  Franktort  Parlia- 
ment, a  revolutionary  body.  The  emperor  of  Austria, 
when  he  found  himself  obliged  to  accede  to  the  demand 
of  the  revolution  and  to  grant  a  constitution,  the 
Parliament  was  to  be  called  not  Reichstag  but 
Reichsrath.  It  was  at  least  in  name  a  victory  over 
revolution.  The  German  Fmperor  wrote  into  the 


84  SCROLLS 

album  of  the  city  of  Munich  the  famous  words:  The 
will  of  the  prince  is  the  supreme  law.  If  he  cannot 
write  it  into  the  constitution,  he  will  write  it  into  the 
album  that  he  is  opposed  to  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  modern  state. 

In  1870  pope  Pius  IX.  pressed  the  passage  of  the 
dogma  of  infallibility.  Why?  He  had  been  expelled 
from  his  city  by  the  revolution  which  he  thought 
would  make  him  king  of  a  federation  of  Italy.  Re- 
stored to  his  throne,  he  felt  that  he  could  not  compro- 
mise with  revolutionary  forces  either  in  theory,  or 
in  practice.  So  he  in  1854  promulgated  the  doctrine 
of  Immaculate  Conception.  The  council  of  Trent 
had  still  withheld  a  definition  of  that  doctrine.  It  was 
considered  wise  to  have  a  certain  freedom  of  teaching 
in  the  Catholic  church.  Mary,  while  a  superior 
personality,  whould  remain  a  human  being  insofar  as 
she  had  been  born  in  sin  and  needed  salvation  by 
Jesus'  death.  But  the  pope  was  desirous  to  show  to  the 
world  that  he  was  not  afraid  of  increasing  the  great 
wealth  of  faith  which  the  Catholic  church  had  stored 
up  in  so  many  canons,  bulls  and  encyclicals. 

In  1858  he  perpetrated  the  greatest  crime  com- 
mitted in  the  19th  century  in  the  name  of  religion. 
He  tore  Edgar  Mortara,  a  child  of  six  years,  from  the 
arms  of  his  mother,  because  a  servant  girl  had  con- 
fessed that  she  had  baptized  him.  The  whole  civilized 
world  was  stirred  with  indignation.  Catholic  sove- 
reigns raised  a  voice  of  warning.  But  the  head  of  the 
Catholic  church  wished  to  demonstrate  to  the  world 
that  he  would  not  give  up  one  iota  of  the  medieval 
conception  of  ecclesiastic  authority  and  even  today 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  JEWISH  HISTORY        85 


the  church,  guided  by  the  principles  of  Pius  and  his 
Jesuit  advisers,  instead  of  hiding  her  shame  will 
parade  the  poor  victim  of  her  crime  in  order  to  demon- 
strate her  defiance  of  what  civilization  considers  the 
most  sacred  right  of  man. 

In  1864  the  same  pope  celebrated  the  tenth  anni- 
versary of  the  promulgation  of  the  new  dogma.  He 
considered  it  a  good  opportunity  to  show  again  his 
defiance  of  the  demands  of  modern  civilization.  He 
published  the  syllabus  of  errors,  common  in  our  time, 
and  th's  syllabus  comprised  the  freedom  of  worship, 
the  freedom  of  the  press,  the  equality  of  all  citizens  in 
the  eyes  of  the  law.  The  world  was  shocked,  for  the 
pope  announced  that  he  was  ready  to  burn  heretics 
and  infidels  at  the  stake  and  to  subject  every  news- 
paper to  ecclesiastic  censorship,  if  he  had  the  power 
to  do  so.  He  could  not  reasonably  expect  that  power, 
but  he  felt  the  need  of  professing  before  the  whole 
world,  as  the  syllabus  declared  it,  that  the  pope  would 
never  compromise  with  liberalism. 

In  1870  he  crowned  his  work  by  the  declaration  of 
infallibility.  It  seemed  altogether  superfluous,  for 
the  pope  had  in  1854  promulgated  a  dogma  without 
asking  anybody's  consent,  but  another  declaration  of 
uncompromising  adherence  to  medievalism  was  to 
be  made,  another  cry  of  defiance  was  to  be  uttered, 
and  it  was  done  in  spite  of  the  warnings  by  some  of  the 
most  prominent  prelates  of  Catholicism,  by  Ketteler, 
Rauscher,  Dupanloup  and  Strossmayer. 

These  individual  instances  could  be  endlessly  mul- 
tiplied. The  whole  history  of  religion  is  an  exempli- 
fication of  protest  against  ecclesiastical  tyranny  on 


86  SCROLLS 

one  hand  and  of  protest  against  revolutionary  move- 
ments on  the  other. 

Luther  protested  against  the  claim  of  the  church 
that  she  could  pardon  sins.  The  council  of  Trent 
protested  against  all  individualism  and  criticism  by 
the  enactment  of  the  doctrine  of  transsubstantiation, 
by  the  definition  of  the  Bible,  by  its  canonization  of 
the  Vulgata,  by  its  declaration  of  the  sacramental 
character  of  the  priesthood  and  by  the  \^hole  fabric 
of  the  church  which  was  the  result  of  its  proceedings. 

The  Puritans  protested  against  all  ecclesiastic 
authority.  They  rejected  the  book  of  common 
prayers,  they  abhorred  crucifixes,  altars  and  vestments, 
they  prohibited  the  singing  of  hymns.  The  word  of 
God  alone  should  be  heard  in  their  churches. 

The  Quakers  protested  against  priesthood  in  any 
form  and  against  the  enactment  of  any  laws;  even  the 
Puritan  Sabbath  to  them  was  tyranny. 

Inner  Jewish  history  shows  the  same  principle.  We 
may  best  illustrate  it  by  instances  from  the  last  phase 
of  our  history.  Covered  or  uncovered  head  has  been 
the  Shibboleth  in  both  camps  of  Judaism.  Outsiders 
cannot  understand  it.  Perhaps  later  centuries  will 
fail  to  understand  it  too.  Our  old  codes  know  of  no 
law  which  would  require  of  the  worshippers  to  have 
their  heads  coveted.  The  covered  head  is  simply  an 
attitude  of  decorum  for  both  men  and  women.  As 
such  it  is  demanded  in  the  worship  just  as  in  our 
days  the  hats  of  women  and  the  shoes  of  men.  The 
famous  Jewish  scholar  Elijah  Wilna  the  Gaon  (1721- 
1797)  considers  the  covered  head  simply  as  a  matter 
of  public  decorum3.  Still  in  our  age  it  has  become  the 
3  Jew.  Enc.  II,  530-533. 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  JEWISH  HISTORY        87 


symbol  of  the  Jewish  manner  of  worship,  so  that  even 
Graetz  who  was  one  of  the  boldest  Bible-critics  speaks 
with  bitter  disapproval  of  the  American  synagogue 
in  which  the  worshippers  sit  with  uncovered  heads." 

Another  instance  will  be  a  revelation  even  to  very 
conservative  Jews  in  our  country.  Since  time 
immemorial  it  was  customary  to  have  the  platform 
in  the  centre  of  the  synagogue,  at  least  amongst  the 
Ashkenazim,  for  in  the  old  Portuguese  synagogue  in 
Amsterdam  I  found  the  Bima  near  the  entrance. 
When  in  modern  times  the  sermon  began  to  occupy  a 
more  important  part  in  the  services,  it  was  found 
necessary  to  place  the  pulpit  in  the  front-end  of  the 
synagogues.  This  could  not  be  called  a  violation  of 
the  law  but  it  was  denounced  by  the  orthodox,  and  one 
orthodox  rabbi  David  Deutsch5  in  Balassa  Gyarmath 
1812-1878  decides  that  it  is  a  mortal  sin  to  recite  Kad- 
dish  in  such  a  synagogue.  Why?  Because  of  the 
opposition  to  all  innovations  in  worship. 

Was  it  ever  different?  Hardly.  In  a  Talmudic 
law  which  I  would  date  from  the  second  century  we 
find  the  statement  that  a  man  may  divorce  his  wife, 
even  if  she  burned  his  soup.  R.  Akiba,  not  satisfied 
with  this  example  adds:  Even  though  he  found 
another  woman  which  pleases  him  better."  Should  R. 
Akiba,  whom  tradition  has  made  the  hero  of  a  romantic 
story  in  which  he  confessed  to  owe  to  his  wife  all  that 
he  had  accomplished,7  should  he  have  been  an  advocate 
of  such  levity  in  regard  to  matrimonial  bonds? 
Hardly.  But  here  again  the  spirit  of  opposition  is 

4  Graetz:  Yolk^tuemliche  Gcschichte,  III,  731. 

5  Jew.  F.nc.  IV,  547. 
«  Gittin,  90,  a. 

7  Nedarim,.50,  a. 


88  SCROLLS 

visible.  Christianity  had  taught  that  no  one  could 
put  his  wife  away  except  for  adultery8,  as  was  taught 
also  by  the  school  of  Shammai.  The  school  of 
Hillel  objected  to  it  and  its  opposition  took  the  form 
of  strict  denial  in  the  words  in  which  R.  Akiba  clothed 
his  protest. 

We  ought  not  to  wonder  if  we  see  in  R.  Akiba's  exe- 
getical  methods  a  principleto  explain  the  law  not  merely 
in  its  context,  but  even  every  letter  or  as  some  antag- 
onist put  it,  that  R.  Akiba  built  upon  the  flourishes  of 
every  letter  heaps  upon  heaps  of  laws.9  It  was  done  in 
opposition  to  the  Christian  principle  that  the  laws 
are  merely  a  symbolic  expression  of  religious  ideas. 
Christianity  had  further  accepted  from  Hellenistic 
philosophy  the  method  of  an  allegoric  interpretation 
of  the  biblical  stories  and  characters.  Rabbi  Akiba 
on  the  other  hand  had  insisted  on  the  literal  character 
of  all  biblical  narratives,  so  that  his  contemporaries 
accused  him  of  blasphemy.10 

From  the  point  of  view  of  opposition  we  can  perhaps 
understand  the  peculiar  law  of  prohibition  of  the  mix- 
ture of  meat  and  milk  which  is  first  mentioned  by  the 
authorities  of  the  second  century.11  The  biblical  law: 
Thou  shalt  not  seethe  the  kid  in  the  milk  of  its  mother,12 
had  been  explained  by  the  Alexandrian  philosophers13 
from  humanitarian  principles.  Man  should  not 
harden  his  feelings.  Against  this,  rabbinical  theology 

8  Matthew  V,  32. 

9  Menahot,  29,  b. 

10  Hagigah,  14,  a. 

11  Hullin,  103,b-104,  a. 

12  Ex.  23,  19,  34,  26,  Deut.  14,  21. 

13  Philo,  II,  399,  Ritter:     Philo  und  die  Halacha,  19,  Year- 
book C.  C.  A.  R.  VI,  159,  1897. 


PHILOSOPHY  Of-'   JEWISH   HISTORY         80 

took  the  stand  that  God's  laws  must  not  be  explained 
from  ethical  principles  but  that  they  are  mere  decrees." 

Are  we  not  reminded  of  the  Catholic  definition  of 
the  Lord's  supper  as  laid  down  in  the  canons  of  the 
council  of  Trent.1-"'  Calvin  had  taught  that  the  Lord's 
supper  was  merely  a  symbol  of  Jesus'  death.  Against 
this  view  the  Catholic  church  took  a  stand  insisting 
that  by  the  consecration  the  wafer  became  the  Mesh, 
and  the  wine  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Rabban  Gamaliel  had  introduced  a  fixed  ritual. 
Rabbi  Eliezer  teaches  that  a  fixed  formula  of  prayer 
can  not  be  called  a  devotion.1"  Similarly  the  Catholic 
church  has  compiled  its  order  of  services  for  the  mass, 
its  formula  for  all  priestly  performances,  its  Rituale 
Romanum  and  even  its  authorized  litanies  for  private 
devotion,  while  the  Puritans,  as  already  stated,  would 
not  permit  even  hymns  to  be  sung  in  their  churches. 

3.  Contrary  to  these  revolutionary  forces  there  is, 
as  I  stated,  a  spirit  of  mental  inertia  in  man.  \Yc 
hate  to  leave  our  places,  we  hate  to  change  our  voca- 
tions, we  hate  to  arouse  a  disturbance,  because  rest 
is  comfort  and  we  love  comfort.  In  this  principle 
are  included  all  the  various  conditions  which  we 
comprise  under  the  name  of  historical  conditions, 
because  they  are  the  result  not  of  laws  of  nature,  nor 
of  logical  developments,  but  of  historical  facts. 
That  Xew  York  has  become  the  greatest  seaport  of 
the  American  continent  is  the  effect  of  logical  causes, 
but  that  its  language  is  Knglish  and  not  Spanish  or 
Dutch  is  merely  the  effect  of  historical  causes.  That 

14  Berakot,  M  1). 

16  Canones  et  Dccrcta,  Sessio  XIII,  ('.  VIII. 

16  Berakot,  28,  h. 


90  SCROLLS 

the  Jews  in  our  days  live  mostly  in  cities  and  are  never 
found  in  large  masses  in  rural  communities  is  the  effect 
of  historical  conditions  which  rendered  it  impossible 
for  them  to  engage  in  the  tilling  of  the  soil.  It  was  the 
effect  of  historical  conditions  that,  from  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century  down  to  the  middle  of  this  cen- 
tury, they  were  mostly  found  in  villages  or  in  small 
towns.  The  causes  are  to  be  found  in  the  feudal 
constitution  of  the  medieval  ages.  Up  to  the  fifteenth 
century  the  cities  were  mostly  settlements  around  the 
castle  of  a  nobleman.  The  burghers  needed  his  pro- 
tection and  therefore  placed  themselves  under  his 
jurisdiction.  When  they  had  grown  strong  enough 
to  stand  on  their  own  feet  and  to  protect  themselves, 
the  Jews,  who  formerly  were  kept  by  the  nobleman  for 
the  sake  of  the  revenue  which  he  could  derive  from 
them,  were  expelled,  because  the  burghers  saw  in  them 
competitors  in  business  and  did  not  care  for  the 
revenue  which  not  they  personally  but  merely  the 
municipal  treasury  could  derive  from  them.  When 
from  the  seventeenth  century  on  the  growing  central- 
ization of  political  power  in  the  hands  of  the  princes 
or  the  division  of  citizens  into  a  ruling  class  of  patri- 
cians and  into  a  mass  of  merely  tax  paying  burghers 
had  changed  the  conditions,  the  Jews  returned  to  the 
places  whence  they  had  been  expelled,  and  finally 
when  the  freedom  of  residence  became  universally 
acknowledged  by  legislation,  the  small  towns  became 
deserted  and  the  large  cities  were  populated  by  Jews. 
It  is  due  to  historic  conditions  that  perhaps  the 
majority  of  all  the  Jews  of  the  world  live  in  western 
Russia,  in  eastern  Prussia  and  in  the  Austrian  pro- 


PHILOSOPHY  OF   JEWISH   HISTORY 


vinces  of  Galicia  and  Bukowina.  These  provinces 
are  parts  of  the  former  kingdom  of  Poland,  whither 
the  Jews  had  been  attracted  by  the  primitive  state 
of  its  affairs.  It  had  only  a  nobility  and  serfs,  no 
middle  class  of  any  kind,  and  so  the  Jew  found  here  a 
place  as  a  mediator  between  producer  and  consumer, 
as  a  pioneer  of  civilization,  as  a  mechanic  and  im- 
porter. Another  reason  for  the  marvellous  growth  of 
the  Jewish  population  in  that  country  is  found  in  its 
anarchical  form  of  government.  Here  they  were  free 
from  the  curse  of  the  law,  framed  ever  anew  in  western 
Europe  with  the  purpose  of  ruining  them  materially, 
of  degrading  them  socially,  and  making  their  lives 
miserable  in  every  respect.  Thither  they  fled,  who 
had  been  dragged  into  churches  by  furious  mobs  and 
had  in  view  of  cruel  death  accepted  baptism.  Thither 
they  fled  who  had  voluntarily  abjured  their  faith  and 
repenting  of  their  act  were  forced  to  leave  a  country 
where  canonical  law  could  not  be  trifled  with  and  would 
deliver  them  to  the  secular  arm  with  the  hypocritical 
commendation  of  mercy.  Thither  they  fled  who  had 
been  warned  in  time  of  the  terrible  rumor  that  they 
had  dissuaded  a  prospective  Jewish  convert  to  Christ- 
ianity from  leaving  his  ancestral  faith  or  that  they  had 
pierced  a  consecrated  host  which  in  times  of  general 
belief  in  Transsubstantiation  always  shed  blood,  or 
those  who  were  accused  of  having  stolen  a  Christian 
child  for  the  purpose  of  using  its  blood  in  the  Mnzzot, 
or  those  who  had  uttered  a  word  of  disrespect  in 
regard  to  Jesus  and  his  mother.  Thither  went  those 
Christians  who  had  become  converts  to  Judaism  and 
so  historical  conditions  have  brought  it  about  that 


92  SCROLLS 

there  are  in  the  provinces  of  Kowno  and  Suwalki 
perhaps  half  a  million  of  Jews  while  perhaps  200,000 
natives  of  these  provinces  will  be  found  in  American 
cities. 

Our  internal  religious  life  is  also  full  of  evidences  of 
the  workings  of  historic  conditions.  It  is  due  to  such 
that  circumcision  has  remained  a  sacred  institution, 
while  the  laws  of  levitical  purity  have  gone 
down  to  oblivion,  that  the  sacrifices  were  abolished, 
while  the  law  of  Hallah,  the  sacrifice  of  the  portion 
of  the  dough17  became  one  of  the  most  sacred  duties 
of  Jewish  women.  It  is  due  to  historic  conditions 
that  the  Talmud  of  Babylonia  became  the  favorite 
text-book  of  Jewish  students,  while  the  Talmud  of 
Palestine  has  become  a  rare  specialty  of  extraordinary 
scholars,  Had  Europe  been  first  populated  by  set- 
tlers from  Palestine,  the  reverse  would  have  taken  place. 
It  is  due  to  historic  causes  that  the  Jews  of  Poland, 
of  south-western  Russia  and  Roumania  speak  a 
German  Yiddish,  while  those  of  Turkey  and  Morocco 
speak  a  Spanish  Yiddish  and  the  Jews  of  Corfu  living 
in  the  midst  of  a  Greek  population  speak  the  Italian. 

Historic  conditions  are  responsible  for  the  rise  of 
the  modern  reform-movement  in  Germany,  for  its 
growth  in  the  United  States  of  America  and  for  its 
lack  of  success  in  England  and  its  colonies.  In  Ger- 
many the  Jew  was  nearest  to  the  culture  of  his  age. 
His  language  and  his  small  settlements  brought  him 
more  in  contact  with  his  neighbors.  The  era  of  deism, 
Aufklarungsepoche,  influenced  him  more  directly  than 
was  the  case  anywhere  else.  He  felt  that  he  owed  a 
duty  of  self-emancipation  to  those  who  would  receive 
17  Yoreh  Deah,  322-330. 


PHILOSOPHY   OF   JEWISH   HISTORY         93 

him  in  their  midst.  But  the  legal  recognition  of  the 
congregation  which  had  the  right  to  assess  all 
Jewish  inhabitants  of  a  town  made  it  necessary  to 
consider  the  needs  and  wishes  of  the  orthodox  mi- 
norities, and  therefore  reform  could  not  make  that 
progress  which  it  was  able  to  make  in  America  where 
no  state  organization  supported  or  protected  congre- 
gations, where  religious  individualism  was  the  charac- 
teristic feature  of  national  life.  In  England  on  the 
other  hand  there  seemed  to  be  no  need  to  reform  the 
services  of  the  synagogue  in  order  to  improve  the 
political  situation  of  the  Jews.  There  it  was  a  feature 
of  both  national  life  and  of  social  propriety  to  be  conser- 
vative in  religion.  We  are  children  of  destiny,  the 
poor  tin-ware  peddler  who  came  over  from  Szagarren 
in  the  government  of  Kovno  and  his  son  who  has 
become  an  American  lawyer. 

4.  Life  is  a  compromise  between  ideal  and  practice. 
This  was  our  fourth  thesis.  When  we  can  not  obtain 
all  our  demands  we  accept  part  of  them.  When  the 
emperor  of  Austria  could  not  rule  any  more  without  a 
legislature  elected  by  the  people,  he  granted  a  Reichs- 
rath,  congratulating  himself  that  he  had  freed  himself 
from  the  phantom  of  the  Reichstag.  When  King 
George  III.  saw  that  he  could  not  enforce  the  stamp- 
tax  he  accepted  as  a  substitute  the  duty  on  tea.  It 
was  on  one  hand  an  acknowledgement  that  he  had  to 
yield  to  the  wishes  of  the  colonial  population,  but  on 
the  other  hand  an  assertion  of  his  right  to  raise 
revenue  from  the  colonies  without  consulting  them. 
When  the  crime  perpetrated  against  Drey i us  could 
not  be  hushed  up  any  longer,  a  compromise  was 


94  SCROLLS 

accepted  that  he  should  be  retried,  convicted  and 
pardoned. 

In  religion  perhaps  longer  than  in  any  other  depart- 
ment of  spiritual  life  the  claims  of  the  past  and  the 
needs  of  the  present  will  collide  and  in  the  end  settle 
their  conflicting  interests  by  a  compromise. 

A  beautiful  story  is  told  by  Ekkehard,  the  monk  of 
St.  Gallen.  The  duchess  of  Suavia  wished  to  see  the 
convent.  This  was  contrary  to  the  rules  of  St. 
Benedict,  the  founder  of  the  order,  who  had  said  that 
no  woman  should  ever  set  her  foot  on  the  threshold  of 
a  monastery.  But  the  duchess  was  a  great  patroness 
of  the  convent  and  the  fathers  feared  to  displease  her. 
So  Ekkehard  proposed  that  someone  should  carry 
her1  over  the  threshold  and  the  compromise  between 
the  ideal  and  the  condition  was  affected.18 

A  recent  case  published  in  the  Acta  Sanctae  Sedis19 
is  another  illustration.  The  Catholic  church  does 
not  permit  a  divorce,  but  practical  conditions  require 
it  sometimes,  especially  in  countries  where  the  law  of 
the  state  permits  it.  A  Catholic  couple  in  France  had 
separated,  the  husband  had  married  after  the  court 
had  pronounced  a  divorce,  but  the  wife,  as  a  good 
Catholic,  could  not  marry.  Now  the  wife  applies 
to  the  pope  stating  that  her  mother  had  forced  her 
into  that  marriage.  The  mother  corroborates  the 
testimony  of  her  daughter  by  the  assertion  that  she 
had  done  so,  because  she  was  afraid  that  her  daughter 
might  marry  a  Jewish  young  man  who  had  been  a 
persistent  suitor,  and  as  she,  the  mother,  had  married 
a  Jew,  she  wished  to  protect  her  daughter  from  a 

18  Scheffels'  novel:  Ekkehard. 

19  Vol.  XXXII,  D.  27-45.     Rome,  1899-1900. 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  JEWISH   HISTORY        05 

similar  fate.  This  assertion  is  accepted  by  the  Holy 
congregation  of  the  Council,  and  while  divorce  cannot 
be  pronounced,  the  marriage  is  declared  invalid  because 
of  coercion  which  constitutes  the  lack  of  consensus. 

Our  Jewish  Law,  sharing  with  the  Catholic  the 
theory  of  unchangeableness,  presents  everywhere 
instances  of  such  compromises.  Who  does  not  know 
the  delicious  "Shalet"  which  inspired  Heine  to  the 
statement  that  Judaism  is  the  best  religion. 

Ihr  habt  die  beste  Religion 
Schalet  ist  Gotterspeise. 

This  dish  for  gods  is  the  result  of  a  compromise. 
Cooking  is  prohibited  on  the  Sabbath,  but  cooking  in 
the  proper  sense  can  be  called  only  the  preparation 
of  meals  by  the  medium  of  fire.  It  we  put  our  dishes 
in  a  warm  place  on  Friday  and  the  hot  air  cooks  them 
over  night,  v:e  have  not  cooked  them  and  may  with 
undisturbed  ease  of  conscience  enjoy  our  warm  meal. 

It  would  be  wrong  however  to  treat  this  part  of 
our  subject  in  its  degeneration.  That  would  be  a 
caricature.  Compromise  is  in  itself  the  wisdom  of 
life.  We  move  by  steps  and  not  by  leaps.  The  Eng- 
lish people  who  have  slowly  and  by  degrees  developed 
from  a  despotic  state  into  a  free  country  have  acted 
more  wisely  than  the  French  who  jumped  from  despot- 
ism into  a  doctrinarian  ideal  of  freedom  which  was  a 
tyranny  worse  than  the  autocracy  which  it  had 
superseded  and  finally  ended  in  a  military  dictator- 
ship. In  religion  also  the  proper  regard  for  the  right 
of  the  historical  "das  historisch  Geicordene"  is  a  wise 
course,  and  it  is  the  logical  method  of  religious 
evolution. 


96  SCROLLS 

Modern  Judaism  has  everywhere  adopted  this 
system.  The  orthodox  of  modern  type  while 
adhering  to  the  traditional  principle  in  religious  obser- 
vances, as  far  as  the  ritual  and  the  dietary  law  de- 
manded, has  quietly  abandoned  the  stand-point  of 
his  forefathers  who  condemned  secular  education  and 
social  life  of  the  modern  type.  He  loves  instrumental 
music,  he  even  tolerates  vocal  music,  he  no  longer 
believes  in  the  necessity  of  keeping  up  the  tradition 
which  demanded  that  the  Jew  should  be  distinct  from 
his  neighbor  in  his  appearance.  The  conservative 
quietly  permits  the  infringement  of  the  most  rigorous 
Sabbath  and  dietary  laws.  He  will  carry  and  open 
an  umbrella  on  the  Sabbath  which  once  was  a  mortal 
sin.20  He  would  eat  the  bread  of  non-Jews,  drink  their 
wine  and  their  milk.  The  liberal,  the  so-called 
reformer,  will  insist  on  the  retention  of  the  Hebrew 
in  the  worship,  he  will  not  miss  the  scroll  of  the  law 
written  on  parchment,  he  will  retain  the  ancient  for- 
mula of  marriage  and  the  Kaddish  for  the  dead.  Even 
the  most  radical  stops  at  the  Jewish  calendar  and 
avails  himself  of  the  religious  force  which  "the 
days  of  awe"  carry  with  them. 

It  has  never  and  nowhere  been  different.  Luther 
has  retained  two  sacraments  which  had  no  more  basis 
in  the  Bible,  his  only  recognized  source  of  authority, 
than  had  the  five  other  sacraments  of  the  Catholic 
church  which  he  rejected.  Calvin  retained  the  belief 
in  Trinity  which  rests  just  as  much  on  the  authority 
of  church-councils  as  the  worship  of  saints  which 
he  rejected. 

20  Ezekiel  Landau,  Resp.  II,  Orah  Hayyim,  30. 


PHILOSOPHY  OF  JEWISH   HISTORY        97 

Rabban  Johanan  ben  Zakkai,  the  founder  of  rab- 
binical Judaism,  while  refusing  to  continue  the  offering 
of  sacrifices,  retained  the  custom  of  the  priestly 
benediction  pronounced  by  the  sons  of  Aaron  and 
otherwise  arranged  the  worship  of  the  synagogue 
according  to  the  tradition  of  worship  in  the  temple  of 
Jerusalem.-1  Maimonides  considers  the  whole  sacrificial 
cult  as  a  mere  concession  to  heathenish  customs.22 
Rabbi  Joshua  excuses  the  inconsistency  of  celebrating 
all  holydays  double  while  Yom-Kippur  is  only  cele- 
brated one  day  with  the  formula:  \Ye  cannot  make 
laws  which  the  majority  of  the  people  could  not 
observe.23  Even  the  Shulhan  Aruk  otherwise  the  advo- 
cate of  rigorism  has  laid  down  the  principle:  We  can- 
not enforce  the  laws  of  the  Thora  in  uncompromising 
rigor,21  and  one  of  the  greatest  authorities  of  modern 
times.  Rabbi  Isaac  Elhanan  Spector  of  Ko\vno  (1817- 
1896)  said  in  regard  to  one  talmudic  law  that  it  had 
become  meaningless  in  the  era  of  telegraph  and  daily 
papers.2"' 

Inconsistency  is  the  result  of  the  unavoidable  con- 
flict between  tradition  and  the  requirements  of  the 
age.  \Ye  do  not  shape  our  destiny  as  much  as  it 
shapes  us. 

\\  as  That  wircl,  folgt  dem  Xwang  von  tausend  I. ebon, 
\Yas  clu  gethan,  1st,  was  du  gcsollt. 

21  \Yck>:  Dor,  Dor  \ve-Dorcsha\v,  II,  ,>8-30. 

22  Morch.  II,  $2. 

23  Baba  Batra,  60,  b. 

24  Hoshen  Mishpat,  17,  -\ 

25  pnVi'y,  p.  2,<(>,  \Yi!ma,  1SSS. 


"MINIMA  CURAT  HISTORICUS.'" 

SOME  time  ago  a  remark  was  made  by  a  man  of 
considerable  authority,  disparaging  the  value  of 
historical  details  by  the  illustration  that  some  people 
are  never  happy  until  they  have  established  beyond 
a  doubt  what  color  the  stockings  were  which  Rabbenu 
Tarn's  grandmother  wore  on  Sabbath-'Hanukkah. 
Humor  is  a  two-edged  sword.  It  is  a  good  weapon 
against  abuses  but  it  may  be  wielded  with  the  same 
effect  in  the  wrong  place.  In  a  well-drawn  caricature 
you  may  recognize  the  person  represented,  but  this 
does  not  make  the  caricature  a  portrait. 

As  in  a  caricature,  so  there  is  some  truth  in  a 
satire,  and  also  in  that  satire  on  historical  rag- 
picking.  There  are  certainly  a  great  number  of 
things  published  which  do  not  contribute  in  the  least 
to  our  knowledge  of  past  ages  and  persons.  The 
publication  of  an  order  issued  by  his  excellency  the 
"Geheimer  Hofrath  von  Goethe"  to  have  the  shelves 
in  the  grand-duke's  library  painted  brown,  does  not 
help  us  in  the  least  to  understand  Goethe,  his  works 
or  his  age.  This  instance,  by  the  way,  is  chosen  from 
actual  occurences. 

Still,  occasional  aberrations  do  not  prove  the  falsity 
of  a  principle.  There  are  a  great  many  details  of  con- 
siderable importance  in  history,  and  my  studies  have 
shown  me  so  many  instances  that  I  thought  it  a 
profitable  lesson  to  publish  some  of  the  most  striking 
illustrations. 

The  Reform  Advocate,  Dec.  31,  1898  ami  Feb.  4,  1899. 


100  SCROLLS 

Was  St.  Just,  the  Jacobin  and  friend  of  Robes- 
pierre, in  Paris  during  the  night  following  the  second 
of  September,  1792?  It  seems  to  be  a  very  trivial 
question.  The  fate  of  Jena  or  of  Waterloo  would 
hardly  have  been  different.  The  republic  would  have 
ended  in  a  military  despotism  and  finally  in  the  res- 
toration of  the  Bourbons,  no  matter  whether  Saint 
Just  was  in  Paris  during  that  night  or  whether  he 
was  not.  Still  this  question  is  of  considerable  im- 
portance. Lamartine  in  his  "Histoire  des  Giron- 
dins"  (ii.  192-193)  tells  us  that  Robespierre  spent  the 
night,  from  the  second  to  the  third  of  September,  in 
St.  Just's  room;  that  he  wralked  up  and  down  all  night 
or  tried  to  cool  his  forehead  by  pressing  it  against 
the  window-pane,  and  that  Saint  Just,  when  he  awoke 
in  the  morning  was  quite  astonished  to  see  Robes- 
pierre in  his  room,  because  he  thought  the  latter  had 
gone  home  and  had  returned  at  so  early  an  hour. 
But  Robespierre  said :  How  couid  I  have  slept  in  a 
night  when  thousands  of  victims  will  fall  under  the 
hands  of  executioners?  Danton  slept  but  I  could  not. 

This  very  touching  story  is  evidently  meant  to 
show  us  that  Robespierre,  the  butcher,  was  at  the 
bottom  of  his  heart  the  same  sentimental  disciple  of 
Rousseau  as  we  know  him  in  the  national  assembly 
when  he  denounced  capital  punishment  in  the  most 
unmeasured  terms.  So  poor  Robespierre  was  only 
the  victim  of  a  popular  craze  which  saw  on  every 
street-corner  a  traitor  ready  to  sell  the  dearly  bought 
liberty  to  any  one  willing  to  make  an  acceptable  bid. 
Perhaps  he  had  been  led  astray  by  such  unscrupulous 
demagogues  as  Danton  and  Marat.  Certainly  he 


MINIMA    CURAT  HISTORICUS  101 

was  not  a  mere  politician,  who  denounced  tyranny 
only  until  he  had  succeeded  in  erecting  his  own 
throne.  He  had,  on  the  second  of  September,  1792, 
not  forgotten  that  on  May  30,  1791,  he  had  denounced 
capital  punishment  as  a  most  cowardly  act  of  asas- 
sination,  but  he  acted  and  spoke  under  the  spell  of 
the  delusion  that  Paris  was  full  of  hired  traitors. 

Perhaps  this  was  the  case;  but  it  is  very  certain 
that  he  did  not  spend  that  fatal  night  in  the  company 
of  Saint  Just,  because  Saint  Just  was  at  that  time 
stumping  in  Soissons.  So  the  whole  touching  story 
is  a  mythical  fabrication,  the  sort  of  fiction,  the  poet 
needs  to  bring  a  tragical  character  nearer  to  our 
understanding  by  making  him  more  humane.  Fleury, 
who  in  his  "Etudes  Revolutionaires,"  1.151-156,  has 
taken  the  trouble  to  investigate  these  insignificant 
details  of  [Saint  Just's  whereabouts  on  a  certain  date, 
has  well  served  the  cause  of  history. 

Leaving  the  field  of  the  great  theater  of  universal 
history  and  returning  to  my  own  experiences,  I  can 
give  another  striking  illustration  of  the  importance 
which  small  matters  possess  in  history.  When  I 
went  to  Breslau,  to  commence  my  theological  studies 
(1876),  Leyser  Lazarus  was  the  director,  but  Graetz, 
contrary  to  the  German  usage  which  gives  to  every- 
body his  official  title,  referred  to  him  always  as  "Herr 
Doctor  Lazarus  "  Only  once  he  spoke  of  him  as  our 
"director."  This  was  January  27,  1879,  when  the 
seminary  celebrated  the  anniversary  of  Jonas  Fraenckel 
its  founder  and  Graetz,  as  the  dean  of  the  faculty, 
acted  in  place  of  the  director  then  on  his  deathbed. 
Even  then,  when  he  referred  to  the  sickness  of  the 


102  SCROLLS 

president,  he  hesitated;  for  it  evidently  choked  him 
to  pronounce  the  \vord  "director." 

This  incident  is  not  told  in  Graetz's  biography, 
recently  published  by  the  Jewish  Publication  Society. 
And  still  to  me  it  seems  significant.  It  shows  the 
smallness  of  the  great  man;  and  besides  it  is  otherwise 
of  general  interest  to  the  student  of  Jewish  history. 
Zechariah  Frankel  was  the  spiritual  founder  of  the 
Breslau  seminary.  Such  a  thing  was  a  novum  in  1854. 
It  was  indeed  a  serious  question  whether  it  ever  would 
be  possible  to  train  Jewish  rabbis  from  the  ranks  of 
young  men  who  had  gone  through  a  regular  course  of 
secular  education  and  to  gain  for  them  the  religious 
confidence  of  the  conservative  communities.  The 
experiment  proved  a  success,  but  this  to  a  large  extent 
was  due  to  Frankel's  reputation  as  a  Talmudic  scholar 
and  to  his  conservative  principles.  He  was  a  rabbi 
who  could  stand  comparison  with  anyone  in  the 
orthodox  camp,  and  so  his  signature  under  a  rabbinical 
diploma  would  be  discounted  everywhere. 

After  his  death,  Graetz  aspired  to  the  presidency. 
He  certainly  was  the  best  known  scholar  of  the  faculty, 
and,  perhaps,  the  best  known  Jewish  scholar  in  the 
world.  This  was  not  denied,  but  it  was  feared  that 
his  name  would  not  be  of  sufficient  weight  in  the 
Jewish  world  when  he  signed  a  rabbinical  diploma,  for 
he  was  not  a  master  in  the  labyrinth  of  legal  dialecti- 
cism.  A  Jew  of  the  old  school  might  not  entrust 
the  decision  of  a  ritual  question  to  a  rabbi,  who 
had  no  other  title  to  such  an  important  office,  than 
a  diploma  signed  by  Graetz  who,  conservative  though 
he  was,  was  denounced  as  a  heretic.  And  so  a  rabbi 


MINIMA    CU RAT  HISTORICUS  103 


had  to  be  chosen  who  could  be  considered  an  expert 
in  the  field  of  Halakah. 

Still  in  1879,  after  Lazarus'  death,  Graetz  won  a 
partial  victory.  While  he  was  not  made  director, 
the  latter  office  was  abolished  and  a  "Seminarrabbiner" 
was  elected,  a  compromise  between  the  claims  ot 
the  orthodox  who  knew  of  a  rabbi  only  in  the  sense 
of  an  expert  in  ritual  law,  and  those  of  the  modern 
school  to  whom  Talmudic  literature  was  only  one 
domain  of  Jewish  theology  of  no  higher  value  than 
liturgical  poetry  and  of  less  importance  than  historical 
literature. 

So  this  little  difference  between  the  "Herr  Director" 
and  the  "Herr  Doctor  Lazarus"  gives  us  in  a  nutshell 
the  evolution  of  Jewish  theology.  The  first  rabbinical 
generation  of  the  19th  century  represents  theuncompro- 
mising  negation  of  all  secular  knowledge.  The  second 
generation  accepts  secular  education  as  a  comple- 
ment of  Talmudic  scholarship.  The  third  generation 
regards  the  study  of  the  Talmud  merely  as  the  study 
of  the  sources  of  one  phase  of  the  religious  evolution 
of  Judaism  and  this  Talmudic  study  has  to  be  eman- 
cipated from  dialecticism  to  be  treated  according 
to  the  general  principles  of  historical  criticism.  What 
the  fourth  generation  is  going  to  do,  belongs  to  the 
hidden  things  which  are  the  Lord's  our  God's  and  it 
almost  seems  as  if  the  emancipation  from  rabbinical 
literature  would  make  another  stride  forward. 

II 

Having  spoken  of  Jewish  theology  in  its  inner 
development,  I  can  prove  the  same  principle  of  the 


104  SCROLLS 

value  of  small  things,  in  the  position  which  Jewish 
theology  holds  in  the  world.  A  few  years  ago  a  rab- 
binical seminary  was  opened  in  Vienna.  The  idea 
to  erect  a  training  school  for  rabbis  under  the  auspices 
of  the  government  had  been  conceived  at  the  beginning 
of  the  century,  and  owing  to  the  traditional  tardiness 
of  the  Austrian  government,  it  required  almost  four 
score  years  to  carry  it  into  effect.  Finally  it  was 
opened  under  the  name  of  "Israeljtisch  theologische 
Lehranstalt."  The  two  letters  "k.k."  (kaiserlich 
koniglich),  so  lavishly  prefixed  to  all  public  institu- 
tions in  Austria,  are  here  omitted.  The  various 
dioceses  are  governed  by  a  royal  college  of  canons 
"kgl.  Domkapitel,"  even  that  stepchild  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  Protestant  church,  is  governed  by  a 
"k.k.  evangelischer  Oberkirchenrath,"  and  its  min- 
isters receive  their  instruction  in  a  "k.  k.  evangelisch- 
theologische  Facultat,"  but  Judaism  could  not  be 
allowed  the  attribute  "k.k.,"  for  this  would  have  made 
Judaism  a  factor,  possessing  equal  rights  with  Christ- 
ianity, in  public  life.  For  the  same  reason  its 
ministers  could  not  be  trained  in  a  faadtat,  and  there- 
fore this  institution  was  reduced  to  the  rank  of  a 
L.ehranstalt,  just  as  the  Protestant  seminary,  while 
raised  to  the  rank  of  a  k.  k.  Facultat,  was  in  spite 
of  all  efforts  on  the  Protestant  side  not  made  part  of 
the  university  of  Vienna.  In  Tubingen,  in  Bonn,  in 
Breslau  and  elsewhere  in  Protestant  countries,  the 
Catholic  church  could  exercise  tolerance  and  allow  a 
Protestant  faculty  an  equal  position  in  the  academic 
body,  but  in  Catholic  Austria  the  church  could  never 
permit  its  theological  professors  to  be  placed  on  one 
level  with  the  expounders  of  heresy. 


MINIMA    CU  RAT  HISTO  RICUS  105 


So  do  not  talk  of  historical  minutiae  without  the 
proper  precaution!  "Facultat"  and  "Lehranstalt" 
are  synonyms;  Jewish  theology  can  be  no  more 
imperial  and  royal  than  geology  or  anatomy,  but  the 
omission  of  the  "k.  k."  and  the  use  of  the  one  synonym 
in  preference  to  the  other,  gives  us  in  a  nutshell  an 
idea  of  the  political  position  of  Judaism  in  Austria. 
It  cannot  be  ignored,  because  it  is  impossible  in  our 
day  to  spend  the  money  of  the  taxpayers,  to  which 
the  Jews  undoubtedly  contribute  more  than  their 
pro-rata,  in  the  interest  of  the  Catholic  church,  with- 
out giving  them  some  paltry  recognition,  but  still  the 
line  must  be  drawn  somewhere. 

And  in  the  general  situation  in  Austria  you  can 
prove  the  same.  The  custom  houses  are  "k.  k.," 
the  military  barracks  are  "k.  und  k."  It  grammatical- 
ly amounts  to  the  same  thing.  You  may  divide  two 
adjectives  by  a  comma  or  join  them  with  a  conjunc- 
tion, but  politically  it  has  helped  Austria  to  overcome 
a  serious  crisis.  The  Hungarians,  once  more  on  the 
brink  of  revolution  because  of  some  act  of  the  central 
government  which  they  considered  a  violation  of 
their  independence,  were  finally  pacified  by  the  con- 
cession of  the  little  "und,"  which  should  prove  that 
the  army,  while  under  one  command,  was  only 
partly  Austrian  (kaiserlich)  but  for  the  rest  Hungarian 
(koniglich).  So  the  little  "und"  is  an  emblem  of 
Austria's  condition  which,  like  a  tottering  business- 
house,  makes  frantic  efforts  for  a  continuance  of  its 
existence  by  occasional  concessions  to  impatient 
creditors. 

Let  us  come  back  to  Jewish  theology,  Some  four 
years  ago  at  the  convention  of  the  Union  of  American 


106  SCROLLS 

Hebrew  Congregations,  one  of  the  representatives 
assembled  there  was  reported  as  having  said:  "The 
rabbis  have  to  dance  as  we  whistle."  If  this  report 
be  true,  I  consider  it  of  great  importance. 
While  one  man  is  not  the  union  and  the  union  is  not 
Judaism,  it  clearly  shows  the  prevalent  views  on  the 
rabbi's  position  which  I  will  illustrate  by  a  compar- 
ison with  one  of  Zechariah  Frankel's  letters  addressed 
to  the  congregation  of  Teplitz,  where  he  wished  to 
take  up  his  residence,  having  been  appointed  as 
"Kreisrabbiner."  That  the  reader  may  understand 
the  situation,  I  shall  state  that  the  government 
appointed  the  Kreisrabbiner  for  all  the  congregations 
of  the  Kreis,  and  he  was  at  liberty  to  choose  any 
congregation  in  the  Kreis  for  his  residence,  but  this 
congregation  was  not  obliged  to  acknowledge  the 
Kreisrabbiner  as  its  local  rabbi,  although  as  a  rule 
it  was  done.  Frankel,  having  received  his  appoint- 
ment as  Kreisrabbiner  from  the  government,  addressed 
a  letter  to  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  congregation 
of  Teplitz,  which  was  the  largest  in  the  Kreis,  ex- 
pressing his  desire — not  making  an  application — to 
take  up  his  residence  in  Teplitz,  if  the  congregation 
would  elect  him  as  Localrabbiner  and  give  him  n 
salary  as  such,  which  was  later  on  fixed  at  4fl.  C.  M. 
($1.74)  per  week.  The  president  of  the  congregation 
replies  that  he  is  quite  happy  over  Frankel's  desire 
to  take  up  his  residence  in  Teplitz  and  expresses 
the  hope  that  the  new  rabbi  would  do  away  with  some 
of  the  antiquated  "Alfanzereijen."  Frankel,  in- 
stead of  asking  the  president  what  he  meant  by 
"Alfanzereijen,"  administers  to  him  a  sound  lecture 


MINIMA    CU RAT  H ISTORICUS  107 


in  which  he  professed  not  to  know  anything  in  Juda- 
ism which  needed  to  be  abolished,  and  if  there  was 
cause  for  a  change,  it  was  the  rabbi's  business  and 
did  not  concern  the  board  of  trustees,  at  all. 

Teplitz  today  is  not  one  of  the  world's  leading  con- 
gregations, nor  was  it  then.  Frankel  was  then — in 
1832 — not  a  man  of  great  weight,  but  still  this  corres- 
pondence throws  a  remarkable  light  on  the  difference 
which  two  generations  have  produced  in  the  position 
of  the  rabbi.  If  a  vacancy  existed  today  in  Teplitz, 
the  applicant  \rould  have  to  moderate  his  language, 
and  if  he  would  not,  he  might  be  sure  to  receive  a  reply 
worded  differently  from  that  which  Joachim  Perutz 
sent  to  Frankel.  (See  the  correspondence  published 
in  Brann's  "Judischer  Volkskalencler  fur  das  Jahr. 
1899  "  p.  109  ff.)  And  what  is  true  of  Teplitz  is  true 
of  the  situation  of  the  rabbinate  in  the  entire  civilized 
world. 

It  is  especially  interesting  to  follow  up  the  corres- 
pondence between  Frankel  and  Muhr  a  leading  mem- 
ber of  the  Berlin  congregation,  when  the  latter  had 
elected  Frankel  as  its  rabbi.  (1843).  The  congre- 
gation urged  Frankel  to  accept  the  position  and 
Frankel  refused,  because  he  wished  a  vocation  by  t he- 
government  which  the  minister  of  public  instruction 
refused  to  give.  How  different  is  the  attitude  of  the 
present  leaders  in  Judaism,  when  we-  read  in  All". 
Zeitung  dcs  Judentums  an  article  published  by  Felix 
Makower  and  endorsed  by  an  influential  member  of 
the  Konigsberg  congregation  in  which  the  view  is 
maintained  that  the  rabbi  should  have  no  duties 
outside  of  the  pulpit,  that  he  must  not  be  even  consult- 


108  SCROLLS 

ed  on  doctrinal  questions  as  the  German  union  of  rabbis 
had  demanded. 

Felix  Makower  is  not  Berlin  and  Berlin  is  not 
Judaism,  but  the  attitude  of  Makower  in  1898  com- 
pared with  that  of  Muhr  in  1843  is  a  clear  illustration 
of  the  development  of  Jewish  history. 

Some  time  ago  I  heard  of  a  minister  who  had  resigned 
his  pulpit.  Asking  the  president  for  the  reason  of  the 
resignation,  I  learned  that  he  resigned  because  "he 
stood  no  show  for  re-election."  The  president  is  a 
former  cutter  in  a  clothing  house  who,  having  become 
bodily  disabled,  changed  his  vocation  for  the  loftier 
calling  of  a  saloon-keeper.  The  educational  standard 
of  the  president  is  that  of  the  German  "Schneider- 
gesell."  Contrast  with  that  fact  the  other  which  I 
can  prove  from  many  documents,  that  fifty  years  ago 
no  one  thought  of  electing  a  rabbi  for  a  limited  term 
of  years.  I  have  seen  e.  g.  the  commission  of  Rabbi 
Abraham  Placzek  (1799-1884), l  of  Boskowitz  dated 
about  1840.  It  is  stated  in  it  that  the  rabbi  should 
enter  upon  the  duties  of  his  office  on  this  and  that 
day,  and  "may  his  days  be  an  hundred  and  twenty 
years."  Who  would  then  have  thought  of  limiting 
the  appointment  of  the  rabbi  for  a  number  of  years 
and  especially,  as  is  done  in  the  small  congregations 
of  America,  for  the  mere  pleasure  of  "kicking  him 
out"  and  electing  another  victim  at  the  end  of  the 
term? 

Going    somewhat     further    back     in    history    we 

find  other  illustrations  which  are  more  striking.     In 

1706   R.   Meshullam  Zalman  Mirels,  rabbi  of  Altona, 

died  in  high  old  age.     Having  been  an  invalid  for  a 

1  Jew.  Enc.  X,  69. 


M I  N  IMA    CUR  A  T  HISTORI C  L'S  109 


number  of  years,  Rabbi  Mirels  was  substituted  by 
his  son-in-law,  Zebi  Ashkenazi.  Everybody  expected 
that  the  latter  would  succeed  to  the  office,  but  there 
was  an  opposition  from  an  inlluential  family,  one  of 
whose  members  had  a  son-in-law,  Moses  Rothenburg, 
who  was  also  a  candidate.  This  opposition  was 
strengthened  by  the  accession  to  its  ranks  of  Baer 
Cohen  who  was — what  we  would  call  today — the 
"boss"  of  the  congregation  of  Altona.  Baer  Cohen 
was  a  very  wealthy  man,  possessed  some  talmudical 
learning  and — what  in  the  days  of  the  Jew-laws  meant 
a  great  deal — a  considerable  influence  with  the  munici- 
pal and  royal  authorities.  This  man  was  Zebi  Ash- 
kenazi's  bitterest  opponent  because  the  latter  had 
administered  to  him  a  severe  rebuke,  when  he,  out 
of  revenge,  had  ruined  a  poor  fellow's  business  through 
his  political  influence.  The  substitute  rabbi  sent  for 
the  nabob  on  the  eve  of  Yom  Kippur  and  threatened 
him  with  divine  punishment,  if  he  would  persist  in 
making  such  a  use  of  his  power.  This  humiliation 
Baer  Cohen  could  never  forgive  and  Zebi  Ashkenazi 
was  not  elected  as  rabbi.  But  when  in  later  years 
he  visited  Altona,  the  "boss"  asked  his  forgiveness  and 
again  after  Zebi  Ashkenazi's  death,  Baer  Cohen 
sent  ten  men  to  his  grave  in  Lemberg  to  implore 
his  soul  for  forgiveness,  and  when  the  dead  rabbi's 
son,  Jacob  Kmden,  visited  Altona,  he  was  the  guest 
of  the  nabob  who  wished  to  make  amends  for  his 
sins  against  the  father.  (Megillat  Sefer  p.  23,  t'f.) 
All  these  facts  were  and  perhaps  to  some  people 
still  are  petty  local  gossip.  To  me  they  appear  in 
the  light  of  important  historical  object  lessons. 


110  SCROLLS 

Would  a  man  of  Baer  Cohen's  station  in  our  days 
be  the  host  of  a  young  man  simply  because  the  latter 
is  the  son  and  grandson  of  prominent  rabbis?  Would 
Hinrichsen  who  occupies  a  high  municipal  office  in 
Hamburg  today  act  towards  rabbi  Anschel  Stern's 
sons  in  the  same  way  Baer  Cohen  acted  150  years 
ago?  And  Baer  Cohen,  while  not  occupying  an  official 
position,  was  a  more  influential  man  than  Hinrichsen 
today.  He  could  free  a  man  from  prison,  obtain  for 
a  protege  a  peddler's  license  which  meant  a  man's 
livelihood  and  similar  things  which  in  our  days  of 
legal  equality  cannot  be  had.  Hospitality  extended  to 
a  rabbi  was  in  the  eighteenth  century  an  honor  to  the 
wealthiest  house.  When  in  1783  Nathan  Adler  of 
Frankfurt  passed  through  Vienna,  he  with  his  "famulus" 
Moses  Sofer,  were  guests  in  the  house  of  Adam 
Arnstein,  the  prominent  banker,  and  when  the  young 
zealot  Sofer  had  made  himself  objectionable  to 
Arnstein's  daughter-in-law  by  giving  her  a  severe 
lecture  for  having  her  hair  dressed  in  modern  fashion, 
and  young  Mrs.  Arnstein  peremptorily  demanded  the 
expulsion  of  these  overbearing  strangers,  old  Adam 
asked  Nathan  Adler's  pardon  with  tears  in  his  eyes.2 
The  role  which  the  firm  of  Nathan  Adam  Arnstein 
played  at  the  Vienna  congress  in  1815  was  hardly 
more  important  than  the  position  of  the  great  com- 
mercial house  of  Samson  Wertheimer,  successor  to 
Samuel  Oppenheimer  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  Jewish  merchant  princes,  like  the 
princes  on  the  thrones  formed  an  exclusive  aristocracy, 
kept  up  by  intermarriage.  One  of  Wertheimer's 
daughters  was  married  to  a  son  of  the  afore-named 


2  Sol.  Schreiber  K'DH  O1H  p.  5,  b.     Paks,  1886. 


MINIMA    C  URAT  HISTORICUS  111 


Baer  Cohen,  another  to  Berusch  Eschkeles,  the  son  of 
Gabriel  Eschkeles,  rabbi  of  Metz  and  later  on  of 
Nikolsburg,  where  he  died  in  1717,  and  where  one 
of  his  descendants,  Gabriel  Bohm,  is  still  living  in 
high  old  age,  one  of  the  very,  very  few  surviving 
attendants  of  the  Beth-Hamidrash,  while  the  Esch- 
keles family,  later  on  associated  with  the  Arnsteins 
in  the  banking  business,  was  raised  to  the  baronetcy, 
and  long  ago  converted  to  the  Catholic  church. 
It  seems  again  a  petty  family  affair,  for  who  would 
call  it  a  matter  of  history  to  note  the  matrimonial 
events  in  the  Jewish  bankers'  families  of  our  days? 
Still  there  is  a  great  importance  to  be  attached  to 
these  facts.  Would  a  Samson  Wertheimer  of  our 
days  marry  his  daughter  to  a  young  man  whose  claims 
on  such  an  aristocratic  match  rest  on  the  sole  basis 
that  his  father  was  rabbi  of  Metz  and  a  descendant 
of  a  long  line  of  rabbinical  ancestors?  This  father 
invariably  signs  his  name  as  Gabriel,  son  of  Judah 
Loeb  of  Cracow,  although  his  great  grandfather  was 
Hayim  ben  Bezalel  of  Worms,  but  Gabriel  Eschkeles 
evidently  considers  it  a  greater  honor  to  have  been 
born  in  Cracow.  Would  he  act  in  the  same  way,  were 
he  now  living,  and  rabbi  of  one  of  our  American 
congregations?  Hardly!  I  only  recently  saw  in  two 
biographies  of  young  American  rabbis  a  very  impor- 
tant historical  lesson  which  is  a  counterpart  to 
Gabriel  Eschkeles'  boast  of  Cracovian  birth.  Both 
these  rabbis  were  born  in  Europe,  perhaps  not  two 
thousand  miles  away  from  Cracow,  but  our  Jewish 
press  transferred  the  cradle  of  the  one  to  New  York, 
while  of  the  other  it  circumlocutionallv  said  that  his 


112  SCROLLS 

father  had  lived  in  Chicago.  As  an  individual  fact 
it  may  be  of  little  or  no  consequence,  how  Gabriel 
Eschkeles  signed  his  name,  or  where  rabbi  A.  or 
B.  was  born,  but  as  a  good  indication  of  the  general 
tendencies  of  the  age  it  is  of  a  paramount  importance 
that,  what  was  a  title  of  nobility  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  has  become  a  by-word  in  the  nineteenth. 
Similar  is  the  case  of  the  matrimonial  schemes  in 
Samson  Wertheimer's  family.  In  our  days  it  is  a 
distinction  conferred  on  a  rabbi  or  a  Jewish  scholar, 
if  a  wealthy  banker  takes  notice  of  him.  If  he  is 
present  at  the  wredding  of  the  rabbi's  daughter  or 
sends  a  wedding  gift  which  is  more  than  a  veiled 
charity,  he  has  condescended.  In  those  days  the 
rabbi  conferred  an  honor  on  the  banker  by  accepting 
his  courtesies,  and  the  banker  was  raised  to  a  higher 
rank  when  the  rabbi's  son  married  his  daughter,  a 
fact  which  in  our  day  would  be  a  shocking  mesalli- 
ance. 

The  greatest  difference  between  the  past  and  the 
present  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  the  rabbi  sends  for 
the  wrealtiest  and  most  influential  member  of  the  con- 
gregation and  gives  him  a  lecture  about  his  private 
conduct.  If  against  that  we  hold  the  fact  that  in  an 
American  congregation  the  president  will  send  for 
the  rabbi  occasionally,  informing  him  that  it  was 
the  wish  of  the  board  that  the  rabbi  should  preach 
shorter  sermons  or  use  more  dignified  language,  we 
will  see  how  such  trivial  affairs  illustrate  the  great 
strides  which  we  have  made  in  an  anti-hierarchical 
direction.  And  it  is  by  no  means  necessary  to  go  to 
America  for  the  illustration  of  that  change.  Even 


MINIMA    CURAT  HISTORICUS  1U 

in  Europe  such  a  thing  in  our  days  would  be  an  im- 
possibility. The  chief  rabbis  of  London,  Paris  or 
Vienna  would  very  likely  be  recommended  to  the 
attention  of  some  psychiatric  authority,  if  they 
were  to  send  for  one  of  the  aristocratic  members  of 
the  community  and  lecture  him  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  betting  on  the  races. 

This  is  partly  due  to  a  cessation  of  the  superstitious 
awe  of  the  rabbi's  magic  powers,  but — why  should  we 
deceive  ourselves? — also  to  no  small  extent  to  the 
weakening  of  the  religious  sentiment.  At  all  events 
it  sho\\s  en  miniature  the  historical  development  of 
Judaism. 


DP:  MINIMIS  CURAT  HISTORICUS.* 

YKARS  ago,  I  published  an  essay  under  the  same 
title,  and  if  I  do  so  again,  the  reason  is  that 
quite  recently  I  was  called  a  "chiffonier"  (historical 
rag-picker)  for  quoting  inconvenient  though  un- 
deniable facts.  French  is  an  aristocratic  language. 
When  you  wish  to  say  something  of  which  you  are 
ashamed,  you  say  it  in  French.  Father  Abraham, 
a  Sancta  Clara,  the  Catholic  Billy  Sunday  of  the  17th 
century,  once  said  that  in  former  years  people  used 
to  call  a  wagon,  wagon,  a  crook,  crook,  and  a  cour- 
tisane — he  uses  a  harsher  word — courtisane.  Now 
they  call  a  wagon  a  "karosse,"  a  crook  a  "politicus," 
and  a  courtisane  a  "maitresse."  "Now  my  dear 
politicus,  take  your  karosse,  place  your  courtisane  by 
your  side,  and  drive  in  it  to  the  devil.  Amen." 

This  is  by  the  way.  I  shall  not  mention  the  place 
where  this  unkind  remark  was  made  about  me,  for 
my  object  is  strictly  scientific.  I  wish  to  avoid  per- 
sonalities and  to  impress  even  the  lay  reader  with  the 
importance  of  historic  accuracy  in  details. 

The  general  run  of  people  look  upon  historic 
accuracy  somewhat  in  the  same  light  in  which  one 
would  regard  an  expert  bookkeeper  to  whom  the  head 
of  the  firm  would  say:  "Look  up  for  me  the  account 
of  Henry  Jones  £  Co.,"  and  the  bookkeeper  without 
consulting  his  ledger  would  say:  "We  rendered  him 
the  last  account  on  November  25  and  he  owed  us 

*  The  American  Israelite,  Feb.  3,  1916. 


116  SCROLLS 

then  $824.64."  People  would  look  upon  such  an 
achievement  as  a  freak,  harmless,  but  of  no  particular 
value,  in  fact  rather  a  waste  of  mental  energy. 

Let  us  try  to  illustrate  the  case  in  point  by  a  lesson 
from  modern  history.  Joshua  ben  Solomon  Loeb, 
rabbi  of  Lenczna,  Poland,  died  April  26,  1873.  As  far 
as  my  knowledge  goes  he  did  not  leave  any  published 
work  nor  did  his  life  otherwise  deserve  any  particular 
notice.  One  would  consider  it  therefore  absolutely 
immaterial  whether  Rabbi  Joshua  died  in  1873  or  in 
1875.  It  so  happened,  however,  that  the  question 
assumed  considerable  importance.  During  the  height 
of  the  antisemitic  movement  in  Austria  the  clerical 
Vienna  daily,  "Vaterland,"  May  11,  1893,  published 
a  statement  signed  by  one  Paulus  Meyer,  a  converted 
Jew,  who,  claimed  to  have  been  present  at  a  ritual 
murder  at  which  this  rabbi  Joshua  officiated  as  priest. 
Paulus  Meyer,  originally  David  Leib  Ashkenazi,  the 
son  of  a  Sofer,  born  about  1862,  according  to  some  in 
Brest  Litovsk  and  according  to  others  in  Wlozlawek, 
was  successively  a  Protestant  and  a  Catholic,  trying 
to  make  himself  useful  to  anti-semites  whom  he  fur- 
nished alleged  abstracts  from  rabbinic  literature. 
Having  met  with  reverses,  when  he  tried  to  prove  ritual 
murder  from  literature,  it  was  suggested  in  the  clerical 
office  that  he  furnish  a  real  live  up-to-date  murder.  He 
filled  the  order  and  gave  such  a  vivid  description,  nam- 
ing as  the  date  1875,  as  the  place  where  it  had  occurred 
the  town  of  Ostrov  in  the  government  of  Lomzha, 
and  naming  all  the  participants,  among  them  promi- 
nently this  rabbi  Joshua  ben  Solomon  Loeb.  Re- 
search was  instituted  and  it  was  found  that  the  rabbi 


DE  All  NI  MIS    CURAT    HISTORIC  US        117 


who  in  1875  was  supposed  to  have  practiced  the 
ancient  rite  ot  infant  killing  had  died  two  years  before, 
and  so  Paulus  Meyer  was  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for 
eight  months,  and  the  editor  of  the  "Vaterland"  \\as 
fined  for  publishing  this  malicious  libel.  The  date 
of  the  death  of  this  otherwise  insignificant  rabbi, 
therefore,  helped  to  refute  one  charge,  in  18(M,  and 
is  valuable  evidence  in  all  other  cases  of  slander  in- 
stigated by  perverts.1 

During  an  agitation  for  improvement  in  the  con- 
dition of  the  Jews  in  Germany  in  the  beginning  of 
the  l°th  century,  a  series  ot  pamphlets  was  published, 
none  of  which  is  of  any  lasting  literary  value. 
One  of  these  pamphlets,  published  anonymously 
was  written  by  a  Jew  from  Koenigsberg,  en- 
titled "A  Friendly  Word  for  the  Settlement  of  the 
Whole  Controversy."2  The  author  proposes  some- 
thing similar  to  what  Armand  Schreiber  submitted  in 
Harper's  \\eekly  of  January  Sth.  He  proposes  that 
the  government  enforce  intermarriage  between  lews 
and  Christians,  and  that  the  Christians,  being  more 
enlightened  than  the  Jews,  should  meet  the  latter 
by  observing  the  Sabbath  instead  of  Sunday  as  their 
weekly  day  of  rest.  The  pamphlet  was  published  in 
1804.  \o  one  would  consider  it  a  matter  of  any  con- 
sequence whether  this  ebullition  of  an  unknown 
author  was  published  a  lew  years  earlier  or  later. 
Heinrich  von  Treitschke  in  his  history,  discussing  tin- 
effect  of  the  Prussian  law  of  March  11,  1812.  quotes 
this  pamphlet  and  the  suggestion  that  the  Christians 

'Jewish  papers  <>l    lS').i   and    l.X(<4,   esp     Mil  tt •ilun^cn    .    .    . 
Antisemit'smiis,   consult  indrx. 

2  r.raetz:  C.csrliirlUc-,  XI,  2f>.*. 


118  SCROLLS 

should  accomodate  themselves  to  the  Jews  as  proof  of 
the  conceit  of  the  Jews,  due  to  their  emancipation. 
The  fact  that  this  pamphlet  was  published  eight  years 
before  their  emancipation,  at  the  time  when  the 
Jews  of  Prussia  and  especially  those  of  Koenigsberg 
were  subject  to  the  most  oppressive  disabilities,  when 
in  Koenigsberg,  for  instance,  the  government  would 
not  allow  a  Jew  to  make  a  contract  with  the  city  for 
keeping  an  ice  cream  parlor  in  the  municipal  theater3, 
surely  shows  that  the  author  of  the  pamphlet  had  not 
lost  his  balance  by  the  improvement  in  the  condition 
of  the  Jews.4  The  exact  date  of  an  insignificant 
event,  therefore,  in  this  case  has  great  significance. 

Some  time  ago  the  present  chief  rabbi  of  London 
referred  to  the  fact  that  three  reform  rabbis  had  con- 
verted to  Christianity.  He  preferred  not  to  give  the 
exact  number,  because  he  probably  had  reason  to 
fear  the  exact  memory  of  those  who  remembered  a 
previous  statement  of  his  that  he  could  fill  a  book 
with  the  names  of  the  disciples  of  Isaac  M.  Wise 
who  had  become  converts  to  Christianity.  The 
force  of  the  argument  was  now  to  be  a  different  one. 
It  never  had  happened  in  Israel  before — so  his  "Very 
Reverence"  said — that  a  rabbi  had  become  a  convert 
to  Christianity.  I  happen  to  be  in  possession  of  a 
pamphlet,  issued  by  some  missionary  society,  contain- 
ing the  biography  of  one  Ignatz  Lichtenstein,  who  was 
rabbi  in  Tapio  Szele,  Hungary,  and  had  written 
pamphlets  advocating  conversion  to  Christianity 
while  still  officiating  as  rabbi.  The  statement  was 

3  Freund:  Die  Emanzipation  der  preuss.  Juden,  1,  89-100, 
Berlin,  1912. 

*  H.  M.  C.  (Heinrich  Meyer  Cohn)  in  Allg.  Zeitg.des  Judt., 
1902,  p.  360-380. 


DE    MINI  MIS  CURAT  HISTORICUS         119 

declared  by  somebody  who  had  reason  to  hide  him- 
self behind  the  cover  of  anonymity,  an  invention. 
My  pamphlet,  a  very  insignificant  production,  re- 
hashing the  usual  missionary  cant,  becomes  important 
in  addition  to  my  quotations  from  various  Jewish 
papers,  representing  all  shades  of  religious  views. 
In  the  course  of  my  investigation  I  came  across  the 
fact  that  this  Ignatz  Liechtenstein  was  confounded  with 
a  Jehiel  Lichtenstein,  a  former  "Wunderrabbi"  of 
Besarabia,  who  was  in  the  service  of  the  missionary 
institute  of  Leipsic,  where  he  died  in  1912.  We  al- 
ready had  two  rabbis  to  refute  a  statement  made  by 
a  man  upon  whose  office  the  world  has  a  right  to  look 
as  an  authority.  While  it  is  really  of  no  significance 
whether  a  Jew  trained  in  Orthodox  environment  and 
possessing  rabbinical  knowledge  does  officiate  as 
rabbi  or  not,  it  certainly  added  force  to  my  arguments 
that  a  rabbi,  Lewin  Fraenkel,  a  nephew  of  Chief 
Rabbi  Solomon  Herschel  of  London,  having  been 
previously  rabbi  in  Dubienka,  and  Land-rabbiner  of 
Silesia,  became  a  convert  to  Roman  Catholicism. 
The  man  was  never  of  any  consequence,  but  his  case 
becomes  an  irrefutable  argument  against  the  malicious 
statement  that  liberal  Judaism  means  a  step  towards 
apostacy.5 

The  examples  could  be  endlessly  multiplied.  The 
platform  on  which  the  leaders  of  the  reform  movement 
in  America  agreed  in  1855  at  the  conference  of  Cleve- 
land was  certainly  different  from  the  one  which  was 
presented  by  some  ol  those  surviving  in  1895.  In 
1855  the  authority  of  rabbinic  Judaism,  while  not 

5  See  on   the  controversy   my   letter   in   Jewish    Chronicle, 
June  2,  1911. 


120  SCROLLS 

declared  infallible,  was  maintained.6  In  1895  it  was 
denied  unconditionally.7  It  would  require  but  little 
effort  to  prove  a  similar  departure  during  a  shorter 
period.  There  is  no  charge  of  inconsistency  in  this 
statement,  for  history  is  the  record  of  inconsistencies, 
and  the  exactness  of  minute  facts  is  indispensable 
to  true  history. 

6  Philipson:   The   Reform   Movement   in   Judaism,   p.   487- 
488,  New  York,  1907. 

7  Yearbook,  Central  Conference  of  American  Rabbis,  V,  52, 
Cincinnati,  1896. 


EVERYBODY  SAYS  SO.* 

JACOB  EMDEN,  born  in  Altona,  June  15,  1696, 
where  he  died  April  19,  1776,  is  one  of  my  favorite 
characters  in  Jewish  history.  He  was  a  great  scholar, 
possessed  a  critical  nind,  a  historical  sense  which  was 
extremely  rare  in  those  days;  he  was  a  man  of  genuine 
piety,  passionate  like  all  men  of  genius,  too  sincere 
to  make  many  friends,  and,  in  consequence,  not  very 
successful.  Of  the  many  anecdotes  told  ot  him,  one 
is  especially  characteristic.  When  the  old  rabbi  of 
Altona,  Ezekiel  Katzcnelnbogen,  ol  whom  Kmden 
did  not  think  very  highly,  died,  July  19,  1749,  the 
congregation  had  an  eye  on  Jonathan  Eybeschutz, 
then  rabbi  of  Metz.  The  son  of  the  late  rabbi  was 
charged  with  the  mission  ot  sounding  Jacob  Emden, 
He  called  on  him,  and  after  a  few  introductory  re- 
marks, he  began : 

"Have  you  heard  that  the  congregation  is  very 
much  in  favor  of  extending  a  call  to  the  rabbi  of  Met/?" 

Emden  answered  with  a  sort  of  growl. 

"Well,"  began  the  visitor  again,  "he  is  reported  to 
be  a  great  Talmudist." 

This  roused  Emden.      "How  do  you  know?"  said  he. 

"Well,"  replied  Katzenelnbogen,  "everybody  says 
so." 

"Oh,  if  you  have  no  better  source,"  said  Emden, 
"you  know  nothing.  Why,  didn't  everybody  say 
your  father  was  a  great  Talmudist,  and  it  was  not 
true?" 

"Jewish  Comment,  Oct.   1(>,   1900. 


122  SCROLLS 

I  doubt  the  historical  truth  of  this,  as  I  doubt 
almost  every  good  anecdote,  but  nevertheless  there 
is  a  great  deal  of  historical  truth  in  it.  It  is  a  fact, 
people  will  say,  and  when  you  ask  them,  "How  do 
you  know?"  they  will  say:  "Why,  everybody  says 
so;  I  have  heard  it;  it  was  in  the  paper,"  and  so  forth. 
But  people  who  take  a  deeper  interest  in  historical 
matters  know  that  things  are  by  no  means  a  fact  be- 
cause people  say  so  or  because  they  read  them  in 
the  paper. 

A  very  small  matter  shall  introduce  us  into  a  series 
of  such  facts.  In  Dr.  Wise's  biography,  Cincinnati, 
1900,  p.  112,  it  is  stated  that  he  was  buried  on  the 
26th  of  March,  while  he  was  buried  March  29.  Sup- 
pose some  one  would  read  that  he  preached  a  sermon 
on  March  24,  and  that  he  was  buried  three  days  after 
his  death,  he  would  be  puzzled  by  the  impossibility 
of  this  contemporary  and  supposedly  reliable  testimony 
The  printer's  devil  wrill  invert  a  9  and  make  a  6  of  it, 
or  a  slip  of  the  pen  caused  the  whole  confusion,  which 
in  cases  of  remote  antiquity,  like  in  deciphering  cunei- 
form inscription,  might  go  into  the  centuries. 

Another  small  matter:  In  I.  T.  Eisenstadt's  "Daat 
Kedoshim,"  St.  Petersburg,  1897-98,  which  is  a  very 
valuable  history  of  famous  Jewish  families  from  the 
seventeenth  century  down  to  our  time,  it  is  stated 
(p.  127)  that  Samuel  Landau,  acting  chief  rabbi  of 
Prague,  died  Tishri  28,  5598,  (October  27,  1837). 
According  to  my  notes  he  died  in  1834.  Investi- 
gating the  matter  with  the  meager  resources  furnished 
by  our  library,  I  find  that,  according  to  Allgemeine 
Zeitung  des  Judenthums,  1838,  p.  152,  Landau's 


EVERYBODY  SAYS  SO  123 

successor,  Samuel  Loeb  Kauder,  died  May  6,  1838. 
after  having  been  four  years  in  office.  This  notice 
hardly  admits  of  any  doubt,  and  therefore  I  suppose 
that  a  misprint  caused  the  change  of  a  n  into  a  n  , 
and  Samuel  Landau  died  Tishri  28,  5595,  (October 
31,  1834).  I  shall  grant  without  a  moment's  hesita- 
tion that  our  telegraph,  telephone  and  railroad  systems 
would  not  have  been  in  the  least  affected  had  the 
good  "Oberjurist" — as  they  called  the  chief  rabbi — 
of  Prague  been  spared  to  us  three  more  years.  The 
trial  for  ritual  murder  in  Kuttenberg  would  have  taken 
the  same  course,  and  Zangwill's  "Children  of  the 
Ghetto"  would  not  have  been  more  of  a  success. 
Still  there  might  be  some  difference  in  Jewish  history. 
April  19,  1837,  on  the  birthday  of  Ferdinand  I,  the 
dedication  of  the  temple  for  improved  service 
(Tempel  fur  geregelten  Gottesdienst)  took  place  in 
Prague  in  the  presence  of  all  the  State's  dignitaries. 
Suppose  one  were  to  study  the  newspaper  reports 
of  this  event  and  would  miss  amongst  the  guests  the 
name  of  Samuel  Landau,  would  he  not  reason  thus: 
The  man  was  living;  this  is  proven  by  Kisenstadt. 
Had  old  age  or  sickness  prevented  him  from  attend- 
ing the  services,  some  one  would  have  alluded  to  the 
fact.  Why,  then,  is  just  his  name  missing?  Xo 
doubt,  the  man  was  a  fanatic.  He  considered  a 
deviation  from  ritualistic  tradition,  and  were  it 
merely  the  abandonment  of  the  auction  of  Mizwot, 
a  mortal  sin.  Our  historian  would  write  it  down. 
The  next  historian  would  write  a  general  history  ot 
modern  Judaism,  and  would  say:  While  radicals 
desired  to  change  the  synagogue  at  once  into  a  sort 


124  SCROLLS 

of  theistic  church,  the  more  conservative  element 
understood  that  progress  can  only  be  made  by  slow 
steps,  and  not  by  leaps.  They  limited  their  reforms 
to  an  endeavor  to  make  the  services  decorous.  Still 
some  fanatics  would  not  even  tolerate  that.  One 
of  the  worst  types  of  that  kind  was  Samuel  Landau, 
the  rabbi  of  Prague.  Even  the  danger  of  incurring 
the  illwill  of  the  government  could  not  induce  him 
to  set  his  foot  on  the  threshold  of  a  synagogue  where 
the  Shammes  was  not  permitted  to  call  out:  "Eight- 
een Groschen  for  the  Kohen!  Zum  ersten,  zum  zwei- 
ten,  zum  dritten  Mol!"  Quite  a  number  of  assertions 
in  our  older  history  rest  on  no  firmer  basis. 

We  shall  pass  over  to  a  matter  which  is  a  little 
more  important.  In  Flathe's  "Zeitalter  der  Restau- 
ration  und  Revolution,"  which  forms  part  of  the  gi- 
gantic universal  history  by  Oncken,  WTC  read  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  condition  in  the  Papal  State  under  Gregory 
XVI,  which  the  author  sums  up  with  the  statement: 
"The  reactionary  spirit  went  so  far  that  the  Inquisi- 
tion gave  order  to  take  the  Jewish  boy  Mortara  from 
the  house  of  his  parents  in  1846  under  the  plea  that 
he  had  been  baptized  by  a  servant  girl"  (1.  c.,  p.  478). 
This  act,  however,  took  place  in  1858.  It  -was  not, 
as  Flathe  represents  it,  one  of  the  causes  which 
led  to  the  revolution  against  ecclesiastic  tyranny  in 
1848,  but  rather  the  reverse.  It  was  a  challenge  of 
the  Pope,  restored  to  his  throne,  to  the  civilized  world 
which  demanded  a  slow  reform  of  mediaevalism. 

One  more  instance  from  Dr.  Wise's  biography  shall 
form  the  climax:  On  p.  6  of  the  book  a  touching 
story  is  told — how  Rabbi  Aaron  Kornfeld1  of  Jenikau, 
1  Jew.  Enc.  VII,  562. 


EVER  YB  O  D  Y   S  A  Y  S   SO  1 25 


when  in  1837  an  edict  was  issued  which  demanded 
that  every  Austrian  rabbi  should  be  educated  in  gym- 
nasium and  university,  sat  down  on  the  floor  and  acted 
as  though  mourning  for  some  great  affliction.  The 
venerable  rabbi  felt  that  this  law  "dealt  the  death- 
blow to  his  yeshibah." 

This  touching  story  has  many  facts  of  history 
against  it.  The  Austrian  law,  \\hich  demands  of  a 
rabbi  to  have  passed  through  a  gymnasium,  dates 
from  March  21,  1890.  The  law,  however,  which  re- 
quired that  a  rabbi  should  have  made  philosophical 
studies  is  found  in  the  "Judenpatent"  for  Bohemia, 
dated  August  3,  1797.  (Wolf,  "Studien  zur  Jubel- 
feier  der  Wiener  Universitaet,"  p.  123),  and  was 
later  on,  January  29,  1820,  extended  to  include  the 
whole  empire  (Wertheimer,  "Jahrbuch,"  1858,  p. 
86).  Its  tangible  result  was  the  rabbinical  seminary 
in  Padua,  opened  November  10,  1829.  The  "vener- 
able" Rabbi  Aaron  Kornfeld,  who  died  October  26, 
1881,  was  in  1837  forty-two  years  of  age.  A  rabbi 
with  a  college  education  was  not  a  thing  so  unheard 
of  in  Bohemia  in  1837,  for  Zechariah  Frankel  had  been 
rabbi  in  Teplitz  since  1832.  The  only  fact  which 
probably  is  the  kernel  of  this  story  is  a  government's 
edict  issued  July  7,  1836,  demanding  that  in  Galicia 
this  law  should  be  enforced  and  that  district  rabbis 
be  appointed  by  the  government. 


1815  TO  1915.* 

A  CENTURY  is  a  longer  period  of  time  than  we 
usually  imagine.  Of  this  the  clearest  idea  is 
obtained  when  we  understand  that  a  century  ago 
our  great  grandfathers,  were  about  of  the  same  age 
as  we  are  now,  and  when  we  further  consider  that  our 
memory  never  reaches  back  to  a  clear  recollection  of 
our  great-grandfathers,  or  that  the  majority  of  people 
hardly  know  their  great-grandfathers  by  name. 
Just  one  hundred  years  ago  Europe  was  in  a  con- 
dition as  critical  as  that  in  which  it  is  now.  On  March 
1,  1815,  Napoleon  landed  at  Cannes.  On  the  10th 
of  the  same  month  he  was  greeted  by  the  people  of 
Paris  with  the  same  enthusiasm  that  had  greeted 
him  before  his  downfall.  While  the  great  hero  of 
battle  was  in  this  way  regaining  his  former  position, 
the  allies  held  their  conference  at  Vienna.  They  had 
a  very  good  time,  dinners,  balls,  outings,  and  Napoleon's 
interruption  of  this  beautiful  time  was  naturally  very 
strongly  resented.  While  preparations  for  the  decisive 
battle  on  the  territory  of  Belgium,  which  a  hundred 
years  later  was  again  destined  to  become  the  great 
battlefield  of  Europe,  were  going  on,  the  congress 
finished  its  labors,  issuing  its  act  of  June,  the  8,  1915. 
The  conditions  of  the  Jews  had  come  up  for  very 
serious  consideration.  During  the  time  of  French 
ascendency  territorial  changes  had  so  frequently 
taken  place  that  the  condition  of  the  Jews  was 

*The  American  Israelite,  July  22,  1015. 


128  SCROLLS 

considerably  affected.  A  great  part  of  the  territory 
occupied  by  the  French  during  the  revolutionary  period 
had  either  laws  discriminating  against  the  Jews  or 
such  which  kept  the  Jews  out  entirely.  During  the 
French  period  all  these  laws  were  abrogated,  and  the 
principle  proclaimed  by  the  revolutionary  govern- 
ment, in  1791,  which  gave  to  the  Jews  complete  civic 
and  political  equality,  was  proclaimed  in  these 
territories.  What  wras  now  to  be  done?  This  was 
a  serious  question.  One  instance  may  make  it  clear. 
The  city  of  Cologne  was  the  residence  of  the  arch- 
bishop and  formed  his  territory,  over  which  he  was 
at  the  same  time  secular  ruler.  In  the  rural  districts 
of  his  territory  the  Jews  were  permitted  to  live  under 
the  usual  restrictions  that  had  come  down  from 
the  middle  ages  and  had  been  modified  only  in  minor 
points.  How  far  reaching  this  was  the  following 
incident  will  make  clear.  The  ancestor  of  the  Oppen- 
heim  family,  which  later  on  was  raised  to  the  baronetcy , 
and  which  for  the  past  two  or  three  generations  has 
been  Christian,  came  regularly  to  Cologne  on  business. 
The  law  stipulated  that  each  time  he  arrived  at  the 
city  he  was  required  to  report  at  police  headquarters, 
where  a  policeman  was  assigned  to  accompany  and  to 
watch  him  as  long  as  he  was  in  the  city.  As  a  special 
favor  to  so  prominent  a  business  man,  it  was  permitted 
that  the  policeman  instead  of  accompanying  him  from 
the  police  station  should  meet  him  at  the  house  of  a 
friend,  where  he  made  his  headquarters,  and  stay 
there,  under  the  supposition  that  he  had  watched 
him.  In  the  year  1798  Cologne  became  French 
territory,  and  a  short  time  thereafter  the  first  Jew 


1  8  1  5    TO    1  9  1  5  129 


settled  there.  Others  soon  followed  and  a  congrega- 
tion was  formed  which  is  no\v  one  of  the  leading 
congregations  of  Germany.  In  the  course  of  the  terri- 
torial changes  Cologne  became  Prussian  and  naturally 
the  Jews,  while  not  enjoying  complete  freedom,  pos- 
sessed at  least  the  freedom  of  residence,  and  this  re- 
mained unaltered,  though  their  political  rights,  guar- 
anteed to  them  under  the  French  constitution,  were 
not  recognized  by  the  new  government.  The  most 
serious  problem  was  that  of  the  so  called  free  cities. 
Germany  had  quite  a  number  of  city  republics,  i.  e., 
municipalities,  possessing  the  right  of  other  sovereign 
German  states.  Of  these  the  city  of  Frankfort  had 
the  greatest  importance  for  the  Jews.  It  contained 
about  4,000  Jewish  inhabitants,  who  lived  in  a  ghetto 
which  consisted  of  one  narrow  street.  It  is  simply 
incomprehensible  how  they  managed  to  live  and  how  in 
spite  of  the  many  restrictions  imposed  on  their  activity 
they  managed  to  make  a  livelihood.  As  a  clear  illus- 
tration of  the  conditions  under  which  they  lived,  the 
following  story  will  serve:  Elias  Loeb  Reis  was  a 
broker  to  the  Duke  of  Weimar,  and  as  such  had  busi- 
ness there.  At  one  time  it  was  necessary  for  him 
to  leave  the  city  on  Sunday  in  order  to  obey  a  summons 
of  the  Duke.  The  Frankfort  law,  however,  required 
that  Jews  remain  in  the  ghetto  every  Sunday,  living 
there  in  a  regular  stockade.  Goethe,  who  was  min- 
ister of  the  Duke  of  Weimar,  and  a  native  of  Frank- 
fort, wrote  to  his  uncle,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Aldermen,  a  special  request  that  he  obtain 
a  special  permission  for  Reis  to  leave  the  ghetto  on 
Sunday.  But  even  this  powerful  protection  was  not 


130  SCROLLS 

enough  to  obtain  an  exception  in  such  a  case.  Another 
case:  The  Jews  asked  for  permission  to  go  out  on 
Sunday  to  enjoy  a  walk  in  the  fresh  air,  as  the  condi- 
tions in  the  ghetto  were  quite  oppressive.  The  Senate, 
to  whom  this  petition  was  directed,  declined  it  with 
the  statement  that  this  demand  showed  the  impudence 
of  the  Jews  and  their  desire  to  shake  off  the  mild 
yoke  which  Christianity  had  imposed  upon  them. 
Napoleon  had  made  of  Frankfort  and  the  surrounding 
territory  a  Grandduchy  over  which  he  placed  Baron 
von  Dalberg,  member  of  one  of  the  most  respected 
German  families  and  a  liberal  Catholic  priest,  who 
in  those  days  had  the  courage  to  join  the  Masonic 
fraternity.  Dalberg,  entering  upon  his  duties  in 
1807,  decreed  that  the  Jews  had  the  right  to  take  a 
walk  in  the  park,  a  privilege,  which  had  formerly 
been  denied  them.  Goethe's  mother  was  quite  in- 
dignant at  the  prospect  that  any  Jew  might  sit  next 
to  her  on  a  bench  in  the  park.  Four  years  later  the 
Jews  of  Frankfort  received  their  full  civic  and  political 
equality,  for  which  they  had  to  pay  the  sum  of  400,000 
florins,  as  compensation  for  their  former  special  tax. 
One  would  imagine  that  this  was  a  plain  contract 
which  bound  both  parties.  As  soon,  however  as  the 
French  government  had  been  superseded  by  the  old 
autonomous  city  administration,  there  began  an 
agitation  to  withdraw  from  the  Jews  their  rights 
obtained  by  public  contract.  Article  sixteen  of 
the  act  of  1815  had  clearly  stated  that  the  Jews 
should  retain  the  rights  they  had  received  under  the 
various  governments  which  had  succeeded  each  other 
during  the  Napoleonic  period,  but  there  was  always  a 


1  8  1  5    TO    1  9  1  5  131 


way  out  of  it.  First  in  the  course  of  the  debate  the 
representatives  of  the  cities  offered  an  amendment 
to  the  resolution  which  stated  that  the  Jews  should 
be  kept  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  rights  which  they  had 
received  in  the  respective  states.  The  amendment 
was  that  instead  of  "in"  the  respective  states,  it  should 
be  "from  the  respective  states."  by  which  was 
intended  to  prove  that  Jews  had  no  other  rights  which 
they  could  claim  except  those  which  they  had  obtained 
from  the  so-called  "legitimate"  government,  but  not 
from  the  various  governments  that  might  have 
owed  their  origin  to  foreign  conquest.  The  senate  of 
Frankfort  at  once  showed  its  spirit  by  passing  a  resolu- 
tion which  declared  that  it  was  the  duty  of  every 
state  to  so  arrange  the  laws  and  conditions  regulating 
the  affairs  of  the  Jews,  that  the  Christian  citizens 
could  make  a  livelihood.  One  will  easily  understand 
what  this  means,  in  the  light  of  subsequent  legislation 
which,  for  instance,  prohibited  the  Jews  from  dealing 
in  lumber,  from  dealing  in  flour,  from  dealing  in 
certain  goods  at  wholesale  and  other  goods  at  retail, 
according  to  the  well  approved  principle  which  we 
find  in  the  deal  between  Jacob  and  Laban,  as  was  the 
case  when  Laban  observing  that  Jacob  became  prosper, 
ous  by  the  increase  of  one  kind  of  sheep,  he  interpreted 
and  amended  the  former  agreement  to  suit  his  own 
convenience. 

Still  more  decided  was  the  opposition  of  the  city  of 
Luebeck,  which  was,  like  Frankfort,  a  free  city,  and 
in  middle  ages  like  most  cities  possessing  autonomous 
rights,  kept  the  Jews  out.  The  philosophy  of  history, 
however,  expressed  by  an  old  rabbi  in  the  Talmud 


132  SCROLLS 

(Sanhedrin  87,  b),  obtains  in  this  case  also.  The  terri- 
tory of  Luebeck  was  small,  and  was  contiguous  to  the 
territory  of  Denmark.  Under  the  Danish  king  the  Jews 
had  obtained  a  foothold  there  during  the  seventeenth 
century.  They,  therefore,  would  obtain  under  the 
treaties  existing  between  the  king  of  Denmark  and 
the  city  of  Luebeck  the  right  to  travel  and  trade  there. 
The  city  consequently  found  it  more  advantageous 
to  have  the  Jews  under  its  own  jurisdiction  and  there- 
fore bought  from  the  king  of  Denmark  the  small 
village  of  Moisling,  about  five  miles  from  Luebeck, 
and  allowed  the  Jews  to  settle  there,  who  were  now 
permitted  to  come  to  the  city  for  the  day  and  attend 
to  their  business.  During  the  French  time,  which 
began  in  1811,  the  Jews  were  permitted  to  settle  in 
Luebeck  proper  and  remain  there  in  spite  of  the  protest 
of  the  citizens,  until  the  congress  of  Vienna  had  fin- 
ished its  labors.  Under  the  often  quoted  provision  of 
Article  16  the  Jews  should  have  been  permitted  to 
continue  to  reside  in  Luebeck,  but  the  city  interpreted 
this  provision  differently,  declaring  that  the  French 
government  was  not  a  regularly  constituted  govern- 
ment, and  whatever  right  might  have  been  given  by 
this  government  to  the  Jews  was  not  binding  upon 
the  legitimate  government  that  had  come  into  power 
again.  In  spite  of  all  protests  of  the  Jews  who  brought 
the  matter  before  the  congress  at  Vienna  and  who  had 
the  Frankfort  banker,  Jacob  Baruch,  the  father  of 
Ludwig  Boerne,  employed  as  their  agent,  they  were 
actually  compelled  to  leave  the  city  and  return  to  their 
ghetto  village  a  few  years  later. 

It  would  be  tedious  to  follow  all  the  ramifications 
of  the  legal  tyranny  that  fills  the  Jewish  history  of 


1  8  1  5    TO    1  9  1  5  133 


the  next  decade.  One  state,  like  Bavaria,  or  Saxe 
Weimar  would  insist  that  the  Jews  become  German- 
ized, that  they  read  their  services  in  German  or  that 
the  marriage  contract,  read  at  a  wedding  ceremony, 
be  read  in  German,  while  other  states,  like  Prussia, 
followed  the  exactly  opposite  course.  They  demanded 
that  the  Jews  remain  Jews  as  long  as  they  are  Jews, 
and  that  not  the  slightest  deviation  from  traditional 
practices  in  the  synagog  service  be  permitted.  In  one 
respect  they  were  all  of  one  mind.  They  all  insisted 
that  the  Jews  should  be  kept  in  a  state  of  restriction, 
as  far  as  their  civic  rights  were  concerned.  Of 
political  rights,  of  course,  there  was  no  question, 
unless  we  except  the  case  of  Baden,  where  a  Jew 
Sigmund  Zimmern,  was  admitted  as  privatdozent 
of  law  at  the  University  of  Heidelberg  in  1818. 
However,  he  soon  became  aware  that  he  had  no 
chance  of  being  appointed  professor,  and  he 
removed  that  obstacle  in  his  path  by  converting  to 
Christianity.  The  Grand  Duchy  of  Baden  had  already 
a  few  years  previously  granted  the  Jews  the  right  of 
citizens  (Staatsbuerger),  but  the  fact  that  they  wrere 
not  "Gemeindebuerger"  proved  that  the  whole  con- 
cession was  a  matter  of  mere  theory.  Similar  was  the 
case  in  Hesse  Cassel,  where  the  law,  issued  in  1823 
emancipated  the  Jews,  but  even  there  so  many 
restrictions  were  attached  to  this  principle  that  it  was 
a  mere  fiction.  Nor  were  the  conditions  outside  of 
Germany  much  better.  Switzerland,  a  republic,  had 
severer  restrictions  on  the  Jews  than  almost  any 
of  the  states  of  Germany.  The  only  place  where  they 
were  legally  permitted  to  reside  was  the  canton  of 


134  SCROLLS 

Aargau,  and  even  there  they  were  limited  to  two  vil- 
lages. Their  right  do  do  business  on  a  credit  basis,  to 
peddle,  to  deal  in  cattle  to  attend  the  fairs,  was  in 
every  respect  curtailed  by  all  sorts  of  intricate  re- 
strictions. In  England  their  condition  was  fairly 
tolerable,  but  as  they  were  excluded  from  political 
rights  and  as  many  civic  rights,  for  instance  the  open- 
ing of  a  shop  in  the  city  of  London,  were  dependent  on 
political  rights,  they  were  restricted  in  civic  rights 
also.  The  only  exception  was  found  in  France  where 
the  law  of  1791  giving  to  the  Jews  full  civic  and  political 
equality,  was  maintained  even  under  the  reactionary 
Bourbon  government  and  under  the  government  of 
the  Orleans  family  which  followed. 

The  year  1830  made  a  considerable  difference. 
The  Revolution  in  France  had  at  once  the  effect  of 
causing  the  petty  tyrants  of  Europe  to  realize  that 
the  settlement  of  affairs  through  the  congress  of 
Vienna  in  1815  was  by  no  means  final.  It  became 
necessary  to  make  concessions  to  the  modern  spirit 
of  the  age  which  demanded  a  Parliamentary  form  of 
government  and  greater  freedom  in  expression  of 
political  opinions  by  the  masses.  These  principles 
could  not  be  enacted  without  reacting  in  some  way 
on  the  condition  of  the  Jews,  and  so  in  various  smaller 
states  the  condition  of  the  Jews  came  up  for  discussion. 
Especially  was  this  the  case  in  the  Grandduchy  of 
Baden  where  the  principle  was  expressed  that,  while 
the  Jews  deserved  better  conditions,  these  could  not 
be  granted  unless  they  receded  from  their  position 
in  religious  questions  like  Sabbath,  circumcision  and 
especially  in  their  belief  in  the  Messiah  who  would 


1815    TO    1915  135 


lead  them  back  to  Palestine,  all  of  which  was  so  con- 
trary to  the  demand  for  equal  rights  in  the  state  in 
which  they  lived  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  remove 
these  obstacles  before  other  questions  could  be  con- 
sidered. The  events  of  the  year  1848,  beginning  with 
another  revolution  in  France,  made  an  end  of  all 
this  quibbling.  The  small  potentates  of  Europe 
considering  the  dire  chance  of  a  fate  similar  to  that  of 
Louis  XVI,  or  at  least  of  Louis  Philippe  of  France, 
granted  at  once  a  constitution.  One  part  of  the 
constitution  was  that  there  should  be  no  impediment 
in  the  way  of  obtaining  full  rights  of  citizenship  for 
everyone,  regardless  of  religious  affiliation,  and  this 
in  almost  every  case  meant  the  Jews.  Independently 
we  see  at  the  same  time  political  conditions  in  England 
progress  favorably.  The  emancipation  act  of 
1829,  which  gave  to  Roman  Catholics  and  dissenters 
full  freedom,  brought  up  the  question  of  the  Jews 
for  discussion  and  in  the  typical  English  way  the 
progress  was  slow,  though  marked.  The  events  of 
1848  did  not  directly  influence  English  affairs,  but  at 
the  same  time  Jews  had  already  obtained  the  right 
to  hold  certain  municipal  offices  and  had  started  the 
movement  for  obtaining  the  right  of  representation 
in  Parliament. 

In  continental  Europe,  reaction  was  soon  encouraged 
when  the  storms  of  1848  had  passed  away  and  a 
number  of  the  patriots  had  either  gone  to  prison  or 
had  preferred  to  seek  new  homes  across  the  ocean. 
A  judge  had  to  swear  the  parties  that  appeared  before 
him.  The  oath  had  not  been  changed  by  the  con- 
stitution. The  old  code  of  civil  laws  remained  as 


136  SCROLLS 

before,  and  this  code  prescribed  an  oath  which  had  a 
distinctly  Christian  text.  It  was  therefore  argued, 
that  inasmuch  as  in  most  instances  the  Jew,  as 
judge,  would  have  to  swear  Christian  parties  and 
would  consequently  have  to  read  to  them  a  Christian 
oath,  this  would  appear  to  the  parties  such  a  mockery 
that  the  whole  idea  of  obtaining  the  truth  through  re- 
ligious sentiment  would  be  rather  counteracted.  The 
constitution  gave  the  Jew  the  right  to  obtain  a  posi- 
tion in  the  public  school.  The  school  law,  which 
had  not  been  altered  by  the  constitution,  said  that 
the  schools  had  to  be  conducted  in  a  Christian  spirit. 
Naturally  a  Jewish  teacher  was  precluded  from  partic- 
ipating in  this  work  of  education.  In  Italy,  which 
was  split  up  into  a  number  of  small  states,  the  old 
reactionary  conditions  prevailed.  They  were  strong- 
est in  the  Papal  States,  where  the  Jews  were  kept 
in  the  ghetto  and  subjected  to  the  most  ignomin- 
ious disabilities.  From  the  kingdom  of  Naples  they 
remained  practically  excluded,  although  in  the  city 
of  Naples,  owing  to  the  presence  of  a  member  of  the 
Rothschild  family,  some  of  these  laws  were  disregarded. 
In  the  kingdom  of  Sardinia,  whether  due  to  principles 
of  the  government  or  to  a  fear  that  favorable  treat- 
ment of  the  Jews  would  estrange  the  Italian  people 
from  the  idea  of  looking  to  the  house  of  Savoy  as 
the  only  native  dynasty,  destined  to  become  the  head 
of  a  united  Italy,  restrictions  remained.  From  Spain 
the  Jews  still  remained  excluded,  but  the  prohibition 
seems  to  have  been  a  mere  theory.  The  small 
number  of  Jews  in  Portugal,  still  suffering  under 
great  restrictions,  also  would  not  excite  any  particular 


1  8  1  5    TO    1  Q  1  5  137 


interest.  Holland  retained  the  freedom  given  to 
the  Jews  during  the  French  rule  in  1796,  but  the 
great  masses  of  the  Jews  were  so  estranged  from  public 
life  that  they  did  not  care  for  political  rights.  In 
Belgium,  where  Jews  had  begun  to  settle  in  consider- 
able numbers  only  after  1830,  the  question  was  of  no 
significance.  Of  the  Scandinavian  countries,  Den- 
mark had  given  the  Jews  full  political  freedom  in 
1848,  while  Sweden  kept  them  under  restrictions  and 
Norway  did  not  admit  them  even  as  temporary  resi- 
dents prior  to  1851.  The  year  1860  in  which  was 
created  the  kingdom  of  Italy  brought  a  change  for 
the  better.  Prussia  began  to  admit  the  Jews  to 
public  office,  Bavaria  in  1861  abolished  the  disgraceful 
"Matrikel"  law — which  means  restrictions  on  marriages 
— Austria  abolished  all  restrictions  on  civic  and 
political  rights  in  1867,  Sweden  followed  in  1871  and, 
strange  to  say,  in  1878  Switzerland,  the  republic, 
removed  the  last  restrictions  existing  in  the  canton 
of  Aargau.  Russia  and  Roumania  remain  the  plague 
spots  on  Jewish  history.  In  both  countries  the  year 
1878,  which  marked  the  complete  victory  of  Jewish 
claim  on  justice  in  western  Europe,  marked  as  far  as 
Russia  and  especially  Roumania  are  concerned,  a 
return  to  almost  mediaeval  barbarism,  and  in  Russia, 
practically  to  a  condition  which  finds  its  equal  only 
in  the  time  of  the  Crusades.  Let  us  hope  that  the 
year  1915  will  see  the  end  of  the  present  gigantic 
battle  between  nations  and  may  also  be  as  epoch  making 
for  an  improvement  of  the  condition  of  our  brethern 
in  Europe  as  the  year  1815  which  marked,  in  spite  of 
occasional  retardation,  the  new  era  for  the  Jews  of 
the  European  Occident. 


138  SCROLLS 

The  change  of  political  conditions  is  also  marked 
by  a  decided  change  in  the  intellectual  life  of  the 
Jews.  This  change  did  not  come  as  suddenly  as 
the  political  emancipation.  No  legislation  can  pro- 
duce such  a  marked  change  in  spiritual  life  as  it  can 
in  economic  or  political  situations.  Up  to  the  end  of 
the  eighteenth  century  secular  education  was  exceed- 
ingly rare  among  the  Jews,  with  the  exceptions  of 
the  Italian  Jews  and  a  few  cultured  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  congregations  of  western  Europe,  such  as 
London,  Amsterdam,  and  Hamburg.  Amongst  Ger- 
man, Polish,  and  Oriental  Jewrs  secular  education  was 
absolutely  unknown.  Very  few  exceptions  are  found 
in  the  case  of  physicians.  The  practice  of  medicine 
was,  one  might  say,  almost  a  monopoly  among  the 
Jews.  At  any  rate  Jews  had  practiced  medicine  all 
through  mediaeval  times  and  were  extremely  popular 
as  practioners,  as  can  be  seen  from  the  effort  made 
by  their  Christian  competitors  to  have  them  excluded 
from  or  restricted  in  the  practice  of  medicine.  In 
earlier  times  it  seems  that  Jews  acquired  the  knowledge 
of  medicine  simply  by  practising  under  an  experienced 
physician.  From  the  16th  century  on  we  find  a  great 
number  of  Polish  and  German  Jews  going  to  Italy, 
preferably  to  Padua,  to  study  there.  Since  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century  we  find  them  in  constantly 
growing  numbers  as  students  of  medicine  in  German 
universities.  As  the  universities  were  autonomous, 
there  was  no  state  law  regulating  admission  to  the 
courses,  but  it  depended  entirely  on  the  faculty  of  a 
university  whether  they  were  willing  to  admit  a 
student  or  not.  With  the  growing  spirit  of  toleration, 


1815    TO    1915  139 

due  to  the  Rousseau  school,  this  admission  of  Jews 
became  more  and  more  common.  These  men,  how- 
ever, seemed  to  consider  the  study  of  medicine  simply 
as  acquisition  of  knowledge,  such  as  was  necessary 
for  business  life.  As  a  cultural  study  nobody  yet 
believed  in  acquiring  a  university  education 

The  broadening  tendencies  of  Berlin  society  under 
Frederick  the  Great,  though  he  was  by  no  means 
sympathetic  to  the  Jews,  had  a  favorable  influence 
on  the  development  of  Jewish  life.  As  early  as  1761, 
Veitel  Heine  Ephraim  and  Daniel  Itzig,  two  prom- 
inent business  men  of  Berlin,  asked  the  government 
for  the  right  to  open  a  Jewish  primary  school  in  Berlin. 
The  right  was  obtained,  but  the  project  never  assumed 
any  practical  shape  for  reasons  that  nobody  seems  to 
know.  Ephraim  was  a  prominent  banker  and  an 
ancestor  of  the  novelist  and  Egyptologist,  George 
Ebers.  Daniel  Itzig,  could,  if  he  returned  to  earth 
today,  find  among  his  descendants  a  number  of  barons 
and  counts  and  prominent  scientists,  such  as  the 
alienist  Hitzig  of  Halle.  It  may  be  that  the  opposi- 
tion to  the  cultural  movement  by  the  leading  rabbis  of 
that  period  had  a  considerable  influence  on  the  descen- 
dants of  these  people  in  making  them  turn  away  from 
a  religion  which  to  them  was  absolutely  identical  with 
opposition  to  culture.  For  the  opposition  to  secular 
learning  we  find  a  number  of  important  proofs 
in  the  rabinical  literature  of  that  time.  Herz 
Homberg,  born  in  a  suburb  of  Prague  in  1759,  subse- 
quently tucor  in  Moses  Mendelssohn's  family  and 
superintendent  of  the  Jewish  schools  in  Galicia,  tells 
us  that  when  he  was  seventeen  vears  old  he  did  not 


140  SCROLLS 

know  even  the  German  or  Latin  alphabet,  though  he 
was  considered  quite  a  proficient  Talmudic  scholar. 
He  began  to  acquire  the  knowledge  of  reading  and 
writing  German  while  a  student  at  the  Yeshibah  at 
Glogau,  but  he  had  to  do  it  clandestinely  for  other- 
wise he  would  have  forfeited  his  support,  which  con- 
sisted, as  was  the  case  in  all  Yeshibahs,  in  free  meals 
given  to  him  by  the  members  of  the  congregation.  In 
1787  the  scheme  of  opening  a  secular  primary  school 
for  Jewish  children  was  carried  out  successfully  in 
Berlin.  Rabbinical  opposition  was  strong  enough 
to  militate  against  David  Friedlander,  the  son-in-law 
of  Daniel  Itzig,  and  his  brother-in-law  Isaac  Daniel 
Itzig,  the  two  leaders  of  the  Berlin  congregation. 
More  influential  evidently,  or  perhaps  more  strongly 
supported  by  the  leading  element  of  the  congregation 
was  the  rabbi  of  Frankfurt  am  Main,  Phineas  Horo- 
witz. When  a  number  of  public  spirited  citizens 
began  a  movement  for  the  opening  of  a  secular  school 
in  1794,  the  rabbi  pronounced  an  excommunication 
against  anyone  who  would  aid  or  abet  in  such  a  heret- 
ical design,  and  he  carried  his  point,  although  the 
senate  of  Frankfort  prohibited  the  pronunciation  of 
such  a  ban,  and  the  rabbi  was  compelled,  at  least 
officially  to  retract  it. 

This  suggests  a  favorite  topic  of  mine  namely  the 
insistence  on  exactness  in  chronological  dates.  In 
1794  the  rabbi  of  Frankfort  successfully  opposed  the 
opening  of  a  secular  school.  In  1804  such  a  school 
was  opened  and  the  rabbi  did  not  dare  utter  any  ob- 
jections. Another  instance  will  give  us  a  similar 
illustration  of  the  development  of  intellectual  life. 


1  8  1  5    TO    1  9  1  5  141 

When  Moses  Mendelssohn  published  his  Pentateuch 
translation  in  1783,  a  number  of  leading  rabbis 
opposed  this  as  an  anti-religious,  heretical  work. 
Among  those  who  opposed  it  most  vehemently  was  the 
same  Phineas  Horwitz,  rabbi  of  Frankfurt  am  Main. 
Just  twenty  years  later,  Wolf  Heidenheim  published 
a  translation  of  the  holyday  ritual  with  a  Hebrew 
commentary.  He,  therefore,  did  actually  the  same 
thing  that  Moses  Mendelssohn  had  done,  but  while 
Moses  Mendelssohn  was  severely  denounced  by  the 
rabbi  of  Frankfurt  am  Main,  Heidenheim  \vas  not 
merely  tolerated  but  indorsed  for  doing  a  noble  re- 
ligious act.  This  difference  in  treatment  was  simply 
due  to  the  change  of  sentiment  in  twenty  years. 
This  change  becomes  more  manifest  when  we  look 
upon  the  attitude  of  the  rabbis  who  followed  the 
generation  of  Phineas  Horwitz  and  held  office 
during  the  nineteenth  century.  Prominent  amongst 
them  is  Akiba  Eger  (1761-1837).  While  he  was 
chief  rabbi  of  the  important  congregation  of  Posen, 
the  government  of  Prussia,  in  1825,  issued  an  order 
that  every  congregation  must  have  a  secular  school. 
The  leading  rabbis  protested,  Akiba  Eger  among  them, 
but  their  protest  was  of  a  mild  nature.  They  no 
longer  had  any  objection  to  secular  instruction,  as 
long  as  it  would  be  restricted  to  a  few  hours  in  the 
afternoon.  How  important  this  move  on  the  part 
of  a  progressive  government  was,  a  single  instance 
will  suffice  to  illustrate.  In  1808  Napoleon  issued 
a  law  on  the  condition  of  the  Jews  which  among 
others  demanded  that  every  Jew  report  to  the  authori- 
ties the  regular  family  name  he  would  adopt.  In 


142  SCROLLS 

Reichshofen,  Alsace,  thirty-seven  men  and  forty- 
seven  women  reported.  Of  the  thirty-seven  men 
only  eleven  could  sign  their  names  in  Latin  charac- 
ters, while  the  others  had  to  sign  in  Hebrew.  Of 
the  forty-seven  women  only  six  could  sign  their  names 
in  Hebrew  characters,  the  rest  could  not  sign  their 
names  at  all. 

Educational  institutions  made  rapid  progress. 
They  were  founded  in  all  important  cities,  as  in 
Prague  in  1782,  in  Breslau  in  1791,  in  Dessau  in 
1799,  and  soon  a  goodly  number  of  institutions  of 
higher  learning  followed,  prominent  among  them  the 
Jacobsonschule  in  Seesen,  established  in  1801  and 
endowed  by  the  philanthropist  Israel  Jacobson  who 
also  founded  a  similar  institution  in  Wolfenbuettel, 
using  funds  which  some  years  previously  had  been 
bequeathed  by  members  of  his  family  for  the  purpose 
of  maintaining  rabbis  who  should  devote  all  their 
time  to  the  study  of  the  Talmud.  Influential  with 
the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  Jacobson  obtained  from  him 
who  naturally  was  favorable  to  the  secular  education 
of  the  Jews,  the  right  to  use  these  funds  for  different 
purposes.  Similar  institutions  were  soon  established 
in  Frankfurt  am  Main,  in  Hamburg,  Halberstadt, 
and  Hanover.  The  most  important  move,  however, 
was  the  establishing  of  secular  schools  in  the  heart  of 
Poland,  right  in  the  center  of  obscurantism,  in  Brody 
and  Tarnopol,  in  1815.  The  moving  spirit  in  the 
latter  city  which  then  was  under  Russian  control,  just 
as  it  has  been  during  this  year,  was  Joseph  Perl,  well 
known  in  literature  as  the  author  of  a  brilliant  satire 
on  Hasidism,  entitled,  "The  Revealer  of  Secrets," 


1  8  1  5    TO    1  9  1  5  143 

and  modeled  after  the  famous  "Letters  of  Obscure 
Men."  In  this  way  it  is  seen  how  the  progressive 
ideas  of  western  Europe  influenced  the  condition  of 
the  Jews  in  the  east  of  Europe,  although  it  took  very 
long  to  bring  the  light  to  these  countries  and,  in  fact, 
even  to  this  day  it  is  only  a  minority  of  the  population 
which  accepts  secular  education  as  necessary  and  con- 
sistent with  Jewish  ideas. 

The  last  word  on  the  political  emancipation  of  the 
Jews  of  Western  Europe  was  practically  spoken  on 
the  battlefield  of  Waterloo  in  1815.  A  century  has 
passed  and  another  serious  battle  is  fought  which  is 
bound  to  have  a  lasting  if  not  decisive  influence  on 
the  future  development  of  the  world.  None  of  our 
contemporaries  can  reasonably  expect  that  he  will 
be  able  to  review  the  events  of  another  century,  nor 
can  one  now  past  middle  age  expect  to  even  prog- 
nosticate the  effect  which  the  present  terrible  crisis 
will  have  on  the  world  for  the  next  fifty  years.  But 
the  younger  men  of  the  present  generation,  those  who 
are  now  students  of  Jewish  history  will,  let  us  hope, 
be  privileged  to  see  our  optimistic  expectations 
realized. 


HISTORY  REPEATS  ITSELF.* 

THERE  is  only  one  way  to  understand  the  past. 
You  must  approach  its  study  with  the  convic- 
tion that,  taken  as  a  whole,  people  in  olden  times  were 
neither  better  nor  worse  than  they  are  today.  The 
chief  motives  of  human  actions,  viz.:  ambition  and 
indifference,  hatred  and  love,  envy  and  conceit,  craft 
and  stupidity,  asceticism  and  gluttony,  vanity  and 
modesty,  etc.,  always  existed  and  will  continue  to 

exist: 

"Willst  du  dich  selber  erkennen, 
Sieh',  wie  die  Anderen  es  treiben; 
\Yillst  du  die  Anderen  verstehen, 
Blick'  in  dein  eigenes  Herz." 

I  am  almost  sure  that  the  existence  of  this  Journal 
will,  in  some  quarters,  be  commented  on  very  severely. 
I  doubt  not  that  some  will  say,  "You  must  till  the 
ground  before  you  can  hope  to  reap  its  product." 
I  have  no  desire  to  express  my  opinion  on  this  subject, 
for  I  am  well  aware  that  there  are  two  sides  to  the 
question.  Early  writing  may  really  have  the  effect 
of  making  the  writer  liable  to  a  life-long  immaturity, 
but  it,  on  the  other  hand,  trains  a  man  to  be  careful 
of  what  he  utters,  for  he  knows  it  is  one  thing  to  make 
a  statement  in  the  pulpit,  when  hardly  one  out  of  a 
hundred  will  take  notice  of  such  a  small  detail  as  a 
misquoted  biblical  passage,  and  even  this  one  will 
forget  it  by  and  by,  and  quite  another  thing  to  have 
such  a  quotation  "engraved  with  an  iron  pen  and  lead 
*H.  I".  C.  Journal,  Vol.  I,  pajjes  31-34.  November,  1896. 


146  SCROLLS 

in  the  rock  forever,"  though  the  rock  be  only  a  month- 
ly journal. 

So  I  leave  the  decision  open,  but  I  know  that  such  a 
charge  is  no  new  thing.  In  those  good  old  times  when 
there  was  not  the  slightest  apprehension  that  a  rabbi 
would  study  homiletics  or  receive  instruction  in  elo- 
cution that  he  would  lecture  on  bimetallism,  on 
Tom  Crogan,  or  Brahma-Somaj ,  and  similar  topics 
of  the  day,  in  those  times  when  lectures  were  not 
printed  in  weekly  pamphlets,  when  no  paper  with  the 
largest  circulation  in  the  North  or  in  the  South,  in  the 
East  or  in  the  West,  was  ready  to  publish  Rabbi  Schrei- 
hals'  latest  pulpit  effort,  with  the  editorial  assurance 
that  the  reading  public  of  the  whole  world  had  never 
before  been  treated  to  such  marvellous  intellectual 
hash — even  in  those  good  old  times  we  occasionally 
meet  with  complaints  about  immature  literary  pro- 
ductions. 

Rabbi  Jacob  Joshua  (died  1756),  rabbi  in  Frankfort 
on  the  Main  and  previously  in  Metz  and  Berlin,  one 
of  the  greatest  Talmudic  scholars  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  still  known  as  one  of  the  typical  representa- 
tives of  rabbinical  scholasticism  through  his  work 
"Pene  Jehoshua,"  complains  in  the  preface  to  the  first 
volume  of  this  work,  published  in  Amsterdam,  1739, 
that  in  his  age  every  boy  publishes  books,  although  he 
would  need  years  of  preparation  before  he  would  be- 
come sufficiently  qualified  for  self  instruction,  not  to 
speak  of  the  instruction  of  others.  Rabbi  Joshua  was 
at  that  time  a  man  of  nearly  sixty  years  and  it  is 
quite  natural  that  he  should  have  regarded  a  man  of 
fifty  as  somewhat  immature  and  a  man  of  forty  as  a 


HISTORY    REPEATS    ITSELF  147 

boy.  It  is  not  very  long  ago  that  I  heard  a  minister 
make  the  statement  that  it  takes  twenty  years' 
experience  in  the  pulpit  for  one  to  discover  what 
pulpit  work  really  meant.  I  inquired  how  long  this- 
gentleman  had  been  in  the  pulpit,  and  I  found  that 
just  a  week  previously  he  had  celebrated  the  twentieth 
anniversary  of  his  career.  Had  I  met  him  five  years 
before,  I  am  quite  sure  he  would  have  considered 
fifteen  years  as  the  exact  time  of  probation.  Inter- 
esting was  the  circumstance  that  I  met  the  same  gentle- 
man in  the  companv  of  an  older  member  of  the  pro- 
fession, a  man  who  had  almost  reached  the  three- 
score-and-ten,  and  this  latter  addressed  the  former 
in  quite  a  paternal  tone:  "My  young  friend,  take 
my  advice,  you  are  a  young  man  yet,"  etc. 

This  is  exactly  what  happened  in  the  time  of  Rabbi 
Jacob  Joshua.  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  Rabbi 
Joshua  may  have  referred  to  such  rising  stars  as  his 
successor,  Rabbi  Phineas  Horwitz,  the  author  of 
Hafla-ah,  (died  1805),  while  his  predecessor,  Rabbi 
Jacob  Poppers  from  Prague,  (died  1740)  may  have 
felt  just  the  same  about  Rabbi  Joshua.  At  least 
Poppers'  contemporary,  compatriot  and  namesake, 
R.  Jacob  Reischer,  of  Metz  (died  1733)  predicts  early 
death  to  those  who  impatiently  push  themselves  for- 
ward to  occupy  the  places  of  older  men,  and  main- 
tains that  accordingly,  such  a  young  man  was  called 
in  the  Talmud  a  foetus.  And,  really,  the  Talmudic 
passage  to  which  Riesser  refers  seems  to  indicate  the 
same  views.  Rab,  the  religious  leader  of  Babylonian 
Judaism  in  the  third  century,  explains  the  Scriptural 
passage,  "for  she  hath  cast  down  many  wounded,  yea,. 


148  .  SCROLLS 

all  her  slain  are  a  mighty  host,"  (Prov.  VII,  26) 
to  mean :  A  rabbi  who  teaches  before  he  has  reached 
his  maturity  (Sotah  22,  a.).  Conditions  in  Sura  in 
the  third  century  were  not  different  from  those  in 
Frankfort  in  the  eighteenth. 

So  we  see  that  the  old  Talmudic  homilies  are  true 
not  only  psychologically  but  even  historically,  or  we 
may  say  they  are  true  historically  because  they  are 
true  homiletically.  An  anonymous  author  in  the 
Talmud  says  that  Nadab  and  Abihu  were  punished 
because  when  they  saw  Moses  and  Aaron  at  the  head 
of  a  great  multitude  they  said:  "Would  that  these 
old  men  died  and  we  were  the  leaders  of  the  people." 
Therefore  God  said :  "Wait  and  we  shall  see  who  shall 
bury  who"  (Synhedrin  52,  a.).  This  little  homily  is 
not  dated,  but  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  it  was  written 
in  Palestine  not  later  than  the  fourth  century,  for  the 
Babylonian  Rabbi  Papa  (president  of  the  College  of 
Nares,  352-375)  comments  on  it,  quoting  as  Babylon- 
ian adage:  "There  are  plenty  of  old  camels  which  are 
loaded  with  the  hides  of  young  ones."  Evidently 
there  were  some  young  camels  at  the  College  of  Nares 
anxious  to  step  into  the  shoes  of  the  old  ones.  But 
we  are  safe  in  assuming  that  at  the  time  of  Aaron  and 
Moses  there  were  indeed  some  young  men  who 
thought  it  quite  timely  for  these  old  fogies  to  retire, 
while  the  latter  thought  that  the  age  could  not  yet 
spare  them. 

Last  summer,  while  in  Europe,  I  met  an  old  friend, 
a  rabbi,  who  said:  "It  is  quite  remarkable  that,  in 
spite  of  our  rabbinical  seminaries,  this  age  does  not 
produce  any  preachers."  My  friend  is  sixty -one,  just 


HISTORY    REPEATS    ITSELF  149 


about  the  age  of  Rabbi  Jacob  Joshua  when  he  pub- 
lished the  first  part  of  "Pene  Jehoshua."  I  suppose 
this  was  the  age  of  Rabbi  Papa  when  he  quoted  the 
Babylonian  adage  of  the  old  camels  and  the  young, 
and  this  may  have  been  the  age  of  the  Palestinian 
Rabbi,  who  drew  up  before  his  audience  a  picture  of 
Nadab  and  Abihu  impatiently  awaiting  the  death  of 
Moses  and  Aaron.  Maybe  it  was  this  very  same 
rabbi  who  characterizes  the  age  of  King  David  in  the 
following  words:  "There  never  existed  a  worse  set 
of  scorners  than  those  who  lived  in  the  time  ot  David. 
What  do  you  think  those  people  did?  They  knocked 
at  David's  window  and  asked:  "Say  when  will  the 
temple  be  built?"  (Yer.  Berakhot  4,  b.)  So  these 
scorners  took  advantage  of  their  knowledge  of  the 
prophecy  of  Nathan,  who  had  said  that  the  temple 
would  not  be  built  in  the  time  of  David,  suggesting  to 
the  old  King  that  it  was  about  time  for  him  to  retire 
to  his  fathers.  This  same  homily  is  found,  with  slight 
changes,  in  the  Babylonian  Talmud  (Makkot  10,  b). 
There  the  scoffers  are  quoted  as  having  said  :  "When 
will  this  old  fellow  die  and  his  son  Solomon  succeed  to 
the  throne  so  that  the  temple  may  be  built  and  all 
enjoy  a  modern  holyday  service!"  In  the  Babylonian 
Talmud  this  homily  is  ascribed  to  Rabbi  Joshua  ben 
Levi.  It  would  be  easy  to  prove  by  the  methods  of 
modern  Biblical  critics  that  he  is  the  author  of  the 
passage  in  Yerushalmi,  for  in  both  places  the  temple 
is  called  the  house  of  divine  choice.  (Beth  Habehi- 
rah),  and  furthermore  the  people  in  both  instances 

begin  with  the  words:     "When  shall  die ' 

These  same  words  in  Synhedrin  are  ascribed  to  Nadab 


150 


and  Abihu.  Consequently  Rabbi  Joshua  ben  Levi 
is  also  the  author  of  this  Pisqa.  Quod  erat  demon- 
strandum. 

But  this  is  immaterial.  It  is  more  important  that 
King  David  is  always  quoted  to  have  replied  to  the 
scorners:  "I  am  glad,  when  they  say  unto  me,  let  us 
go  unto  the  house  of  the  Lord"  (Ps.  122,  1.)  Rabbi 
Joshua  ben  Levi  was  the  son  of  a  declining  age, 
somewhat  like  Phineas  Horwitz,  or  the  latter's  son 
and  successor,  Zebi  Hirsch  (died  1815.)  The  great 
time  of  the  Tannaim,  during  which  he  had  attained 
the  age  of  manhood,  had  passed,  and  they  remained 
like  erratic  stones,  in  surroundings  to  which  they 
were  strange  and  in  which  they  were  not  understood. 
New  men  had  arisen,  the  Amoraim,  who  knew  all  the 
old  generation  had  known  and  a  good  deal  more  that 
was  of  interest  to  the  younger  generation,  just  as 
people  in  Frankfort  at  the  beginning  of  this  century 
preferred  Mendelssohn's  Phaedon  or  Wessely's  epic 
to  the  study  of  Rabbi  Horwitz's  scholastic  work. 
Phineas  Horwitz  felt  very  bitter  about  it,  but 
Rabbi  Joshua  ben  Levi  consoled  himself  with  the 
example  of  David  who,  when  people  revelled  in  the 
thought  of  the  new  era,  of  a  magnificent  temple  and 
splendid  choir  performances  and  beautifully  worded 
fervent  prayers,  said :  "I  am  glad  when  they  say  unto 
me,  let  us  go  unto  the  house  of  the  Lord." 

I  am  a  contemporary  of  Graetz,  Frankel,  Geiger, 
Joel  and  Jellinek,  and  I  have  seen  some  of  the  rabbis 
of  the  old  school,  such  as  were  those  who  were  taught 
by  Phineas  Horwitz.  I  lived  in  the  city  where  Phin- 
eas' older  brother  and  revered  teacher  had  officiated 


HISTORY    REPEATS    ITSELF  151 


as  rabbi  (Rabbi  Shmelke,  died  in  Nikolsburg  1778). 
I  still  heard  the  vivid  traditions  about  this  saint's 
greatness.  So  I  am  like  Rabbi  Joshua  ben  Levi,  a 
man  of  the  Tannaim  age,  who  lives  amongst  the  Amor- 
aim;  and  when  I  see  that  Rabbi  Johanan  and  Resh 
Lakish  are  upheld  as  the  ideals  of  our  age,  who  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  what  neither  the  Knights  of  the 
Round  Table,  nor  their  surviving  knaves  could 
accomplish— then  I  shall  say  like  King  David:  "Al- 
though I  know  I  am  the  victim  of  this  modern  evolu- 
tion, still  I  am  glad  when  my  age  calls  for  others  to 
lead  them  to  the  house  of  the  Lord." 


HISTORY  REPEATS  ITSELF.* 
II 

MY  FIRST  article  on  this  subject  obtained  a 
compliment  for  me  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Szold 
of  Baltimore,  a  man  whom  I  have  called  by  name 
and  have  surnamed  him,  although  I  do  not  know 
him  personally,  and  saying  to  myself:  "Come  and 
see  what  a  great  man  has  testified  in  my  behalf,"  I 
deemed  it  proper  to  continue  a  talk  on  the  very  same 
topic  from  a  different  aspect. 

When  you  read  our  religious  journals  you  frequent- 
ly find  polemics  of  a  decidedly  factious  nature. 
When  you  meet  prominent  rabbis  you  find  them 
proner  to  discuss  the  shortcomings  than  the  accom- 
plishments of  their  brother  ministers.  When  you  go 
to  a  place  where  several  rabbis  live  together  on  a 
basis  of  equality,  you  will  find  them  sometimes  living 
*H.  U.  C.  Journal,  Vol.  I  pages  82-86  January,  1897. 


152  SCROLLS 

in  decided  enmity,  sometimes  in  an  intentionally 
cool  relationship,  as  if  they  wished  to  avoid  too 
frequent  contact  which  might  be  followed  by  an  out- 
break of  hostilities.  Very  rarely,  if  ever,  will  you  find 
their  mutual  relations  an  illustration  of  the  Psalm- 
ist's ideal :  "How  beautiful  is  it  and  how  pleasant  tor 
brethren  to  dwell  together  in  unity."  I  do  not 
allude  to  any  special  event  in  this  country,  but  wish  to 
say  that  I  have  found  this  state  of  affairs  among  those 
who  sat  in  the  Beth-Hamidrash  in  the  little  town  of 
Nikolsburg.  I  have  seen  it  in  Breslau,  in  Vienna, 
in  Berlin,  in  Hamburg,  in  London,  and  wherever  I 
found  an  opportunity  to  peep  through  from  the  out- 
side. 

Contemporaneous  literature  furnishes  not  a  few 
instances  of  that  kind  which  are  not  limited  to  Juda- 
ism and  its  theology.  De  Lagarde,  the  famous  orien- 
talist, never  speaks  without  passion.  He  can  never 
quote  Spiegel,  the  great  Persian  scholar,  without 
calling  him,  sneeringly,  Herr  Hofrath.  And  if  one 
has  the  misfortune  to  be  a  Jew  he  will  certainly  never 
be  cited  by  Mr.  De  Lagarde  without  such  a  charitable 
attribute  as,  son  of  the  malodorous  ghetto,  or  any 
other  compliment  that  will  remind  the  unfortunate 
son  of  Israel  of  the  superiority  of  Aryan-Christian 
civilization.  I  know  of  no  Jewish  author  whom  I 
could  compare  to  De  Lagarde  for  rudeness  of  tone  and 
utter  lack  of  fairness,  though  even  in  our  literature 
unpleasant  personalities  are  not  infrequent.  Stein- 
schneider,  e.  g.,  speaks  of  Graetz  as  a  "Compilator." 
This  is  certainly  unfair,  for  in  spite  of  Steinschneider's 
immortal  merits  in  Jewish  literature,  nobody  could 


HISTORY     REPEATS     ITSELF  153 

ever  have  studied  Jewish  history  from  the  "Catalogus 
Bodlejanae"  or  from  the  twenty-two  volumes  of  the 
Hebraeische  Bibliographic.  Graetz  retaliated,  and 
when  he  alludes  to  Steinschneider  it  is  mostly  done 
with  a  view  to  disparagement  (See  e.  g.  viii-408). 
Geiger  naturally  did  not  like  the  whole  Breslau  school, 
and  as  far  as  a  principle  was  involved,  there  is  no 
objection.  He  found  that  the  position  of  both, 
Graetz  and  Frankel,  was  half-hearted,  left  us  say 
cowardly.  In  former  times  I  used  to  think  that  he 
was  wrong,  for  it  seemed  to  me  that  Frankel 's  atti- 
tude was  the  only  one  that  could  save  Judaism  in 
civilized  Europe  from  the  pernicious  influence  of  the 
Yeshibah.  And  this  merit  Breslau  did  have.  As 
conditions  are  now,  I  think  that  this  faltering  atti- 
tude, this  dodging  of  the  vital  questions  of  the  day, 
such  as  the  Messianic  dogma,  did  a  great  deal  of 
harm  and  is  largely  responsible  for  the  marasmus 
which  threatens  the  future  of  Judaism  in  \Yestern 
Europe.  However,  this  may  be  true,  and  still  Geiger 
might  have  shown  more  justice  to  his  opponents. 
This  we  utterly  miss  when  he  calls  Graetz  "Ein 
Schwindler  und  Charlatan  von  der  ersten  Sorte" 
(Geiger's  Leben  in  Briefen",  p.  257.)  Graetz  retal- 
iated, it  is  true,  and  the  delight  which  he  displayed 
when  he  found  out  that  Geiger  committed  the  un- 
pardonable mistake  of  writing  "Leon  da  Modena." 
instead  of  simply  "Leon  Modena"  appears  to  us 
rather  small. 

Very  wrong  on  the  part  of  Graetz  was  his  remark 
concerning  Zunz  in  the  preface  to  the  fifth  volume  of 
his  history,  where  he  speaks  of  Zunz's  "Xotizenkram," 


154  SCROLLS 

as  more  apt  to  bedim  than  to  enlighten  the  reader, 
although  no  one  can  deny  the  fact  that  Zunz's  books 
were  not  written  for  readers,  but  for  reference-hunters. 
It  is  of  no  use  to  add  other  instances,  I  shall  refer  only 
to  Melanchthon's  famous  word  of  the  theological 
rabies,  which  he,  poor  soul,  still  experienced  after 
his  death,  when  Leonhard  Hutter,  in  a  theological 
disputation,  held  at  Wittenberg  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  threw  Melanchthon's  picture  on  the  floor  and 
trampled  upon  it,  because  Hutter's  opponent  had  dared 
to  quote  Melanchthon  as  a  theological  authority. 

When  we  see  such  things  in  our  day,  they  appear  in 
a  more  civilized  form,  but  they  are,  nevertheless, 
children  of  the  same  spirit.  Trees  must  not  be  planted 
too  close  together,  and  the  taller  they  are  the  more  they 
will  prove  an  inconvenience  to  each  other,  and  the 
thicker  their  foliage  the  likelier  it  is  that  their  branches 
will  become  entangled. 

This  is  human  nature.  In  the  Midrash  we  find  the 
following  remark:  "They — Korah  and  his  followers — 
went  down  alive  into  the  pit."  That  means:  "They 
are  living  even  now"  (Rabbah  Num.  xvi,  33).  What 
did  the  author  of  this  Midrash  mean?  I  think  he 
meant  that  the  generation  of  Korah,  the  disturbers  of 
the  peace  of  the  community,  the  "chronic  kickers," 
will  never  die  out.  It  may  be  that  I  am  mistaken,  and 
that  my  interpretation  is  a  Midrash  on  the  Midrash, 
but  I  believe  that  this  was  really  the  sense  of  the 
author  of  this  saying.  But  suppose  it  was  not.  Is 
not  the  story  of  Korah 's  rebellion  in  itself  a  philosophy 
of  Jewish  history.  There  are  Moses  and  Aaron,  two 
men  who  sacrificed  their  best  interests  to  those  of 


HISTORY    REPEATS    ITSELF  155 


the  community.  Moses  held  a  high  position  at  the 
court,  and  no  one  would  have  reminded  him  of  that 
dark  spot  in  his  pedigree,  had  Moses  not  considered 
it  his  duty  to  protect  his  unfortunate  brethren.  This 
came  near  costing  him  his  life.  He  escaped  and 
found  a  safe  refuge  in  the  house  of  a  Midianitic  priest, 
the  religious  head  of  a  clan,  whose  hospitality  made 
the  stranger  a  member  of  the  Midianitic  gentry. 
He  might  have  lived  there,  but  it  seems  he  was  bound 
to  get  himself  into  trouble  for  the  sake  of  others.  So 
he  returned  to  Egypt.  The  rash  act  of  his  killing  an 
Egyptian  had  meantime  been  forgotten.  I  suppose 
it  was,  after  all,  considered  heroic,  and  in  Egypt  a  man 
would  no  more  have  been  killed  for  defending  a  kins- 
man than  a  Kentucky  jury  would  find  a  verdict  against 
a  man  for  shooting  one  who  had  called  him  a  liar. 
So  Moses  could  again  have  returned  to  his  former 
position  and  rise  in  rank,  had  he  not  had  the  weakness 
to  devote  his  life  to  his  down-trodden  brethren. 

No  sooner  was  his  work  accomplished  than  people 
began  to  charge  that  he  had  enslaved  instead  of 
liberating  them,  and  that  everything  he  did  was  for 
the  purpose  of  rising  to  power  and  providing  jobs  for 
his  kinsmen  and  favorites.  This  is  so  natural,  so 
regular  in  history,  that  the  author  of  the  Midrash 
justly  said:  They  went  down  alive,  and  so  they  are 
still  living.  And  a  popular  adage  quoted:  The  sons 
of  Korah  died  not  (Num.  xxvi,  2.),  in  the  sense  that 
quarrelsome  backbiters  never  die  out. 

Well,  Biblical  criticism  has  in  these  days  so  many 
followers  that  it  will  be  necessary  to  take  the  views  of 
the  critics  into  consideration.  Criticism  is  a  child  of 


156  SCROLLS 

the  era  of  evolution:  The  religion  of  Moses  could 
not  have  been  the  product  of  one  single  intellect, 
but  had  undergone  a  series  of  changes  before  it  as- 
sumed the  shape  of  a  thoroughly  organized  hierarchy 
and  before  it  had  developed  a  minute  ritualistic  service. 
So — critics  teach — the  oldest  religious  stage  was  that 
of  domestic  sacrifices  performed  by  the  head  of  the 
clan.  The  higher  civilization  developed  the  clan 
into  the  tribe  and  finally  into  the  nation.  So  by  and 
by  religious  practices  became  a  science  and  its  adepts 
went  from  one  place  to  another  seeking  a  community 
which  demanded  their  services.  They  may  have  been 
the  descendants  of  one  family;  at  all  events,  they 
formed  a  guild,  within  which  by  and  by  a  certain 
family  rose  to  prominence.  This  stirred  up  a  protest 
from  the  less  favored  members  of  the  tribe,  the  Levites, 
who  libeled  Aaron  saying  that  he  had  made  the  golden 
calf.  The  Aaronites  in  turn  proved  by  the  story  of 
Korah  that  God  himself  had  approved  of  the  super- 
iority of  their  clan  over  the  others. 

Let  us  suppose  that  this  hypothesis  is  correct. 
It  would  not  change  the  psychological  aspect  of 
the  history.  No  sooner  does  a  man  rise  to  prominence 
than  he  becomes  the  object  of  envy  and  the  target  of 
slander. 

The  prophet  Elijah  was  evidently  laboring  under 
the  disadvantage  of  standing  outside  of  the  official 
ranks.  He  did  not  belong  to  the  four  hundred  and 
fifty  which  ate  at  Jezebel's  table.  He  did  not  dress 
according  to  the  fashion.  The  court  prophets  appear- 
ed in  what  was  in  those  days  full  dress;  he  wore  a 
mantel  of  camel-hair  and  a  girdle  of  leather,  and, 


HISTORY    REPEATS    ITSELF  157 


what  was  the  greatest  horror,  he  had  a  long  beard. 
Society  considered  him  a"Bollack".  Scarcely  differ- 
ent was  the  case  of  Jeremiah.  Why  did  he  not  preach 
of  the  great  accomplishments  of  Judean  Judaism? 
Why  did  he  mock  at  many  altars?  Why  did  he  ridi- 
cule the  emphatic  boasts  about  the  temple  of  the 
Lord,  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  the  temple  of  theLord? 
Why  did  he  tell  of  the  formidable  power  of  Xebuchad 
nezar,  when  people  expected  of  a  prophet  that  he 
should  hold  up  the  belief  in  Israel's  invincibleness 
So  he  had  himself  to  blame  when  the  way  of  the 
Lord  was  made  a  reproach  unto  him  and  a  derision 
all  the  day.  But,  so  or  so,  the  best  way  to  paralyze 
Jeremiah's  effort  was  to  pronounce  him  a  traitor, 
just  as  it  proved  effective,  when  the  prohpets  of  the 
Baal  said  that  Elijah  was  a  trouble-maker. 

In  rabbinical  times  it  was  hardly  any  better.  The 
Talmud  counts  as  sworn  enemies  dogs,  roosters, 
sorcerers,  lewd  women  and  rabbis  (Pesachim  115,  b). 
R.  Hanina,  of  whom  we  shall  speak  later,  informs  us 
that  every  rabbi  is  "singed  by  the  halo  of  his  neighbor. 
Oh,  what  a  shame!  Oh,  what  a  disgrace!"  (Baba 
Bathra,  75,  a.).  It  must  have  been  an  experience 
of  his  own  time,  when  R.  Eliezer  ben  Hyrkanos  ad- 
vised his  disciples  to  warm  themselves  at  the  firesides 
of  rabbis,  but  to  beware  of  their  live  coal,  lest  they 
be  burned,  for  their  bite  is  the  bite  of  a  snake  and  their 
sting  the  sting  of  a  scorpion  (Aboth  ii,  15.)  We  shall 
see  later  on  that  R  Eliezer,  like  many  other  wise  men, 
forgot  his  admonition  when  he  needed  it  himself,  and 
his  dying  words  were:  "Take  heed  that  you  shall 
not  forget  the  respect  which  you  owe  to  your  friends" 


158  SCROLLS 

(Ber.  28,  b).  How  generally,  however,  this  duty  was 
disregarded  may  be  clearly  seen  from  the  saying  that 
Jerusalem  was  destroyed  for  the  sin  of  disrespect  to 
rabbis.  (Sabbath  119,  b.)  A  very  strong  smile  is: 
"Behold  harlots  beautify  each  other's  complexion, 
why  should  not  rabbis  do  the  same?"  (Sabbath  34  a). 
Still  as  is  the  case  with  all  theories,  they  are  easier 
and  more  frequently  understood  than  they  are  prac- 
ticed. We  find  a  great  number  of  instances  which 
show  that  the  members  of  the  profession  disliked 
each  other,  that  they  had  a  sharp  eye  for  their  neigh- 
bor's shortcomings,  and  were  blind  to  his  virtues. 
R.  Eliezer  ben  Hyrkanos  was  excommunicated. 
R.  Jahuda  Hanasi  was  too  liberal  for  Phineas  ben 
Jair  and  too  orthodox  for  R.  Hija.  Rab  had  not  yet 
arrived  in  Babylonia  when  his  colleagues,  Kama  and 
Samuel,  resolved  to  make  it  hot  for  him.  Saadya 
found  his  colleague,  Kohen  Zedek  siding  with  his 
enemy,  David  ben  Zakkai.  Abraham  ben  David 
called  Maimonides  a  fo®l  and  an  ignoramus.  Jacob 
Emden  was  convinced  that  Jonathan  Eybeschuetz 
was  an  instrument  of  Satan,  and  David  Kaufmann  in 
the  preface  to  the  autobiography  of  Glueckel  von 
Hameln  informs  us  that  Kayserling  spoke  of  two 
manuscripts  of  this  work,  when  he  referred  to  one 
only.  But  I  shall  not  go  down  to  contemporary  his- 
tory, else  I  might  get  myself  into  such  trouble  that 
I  might  not  have  a  chance  to  continue  my  account  of 
rabbinical  rabbi-haters  in  a  later  issue. 


HISTORY    REPEATS    ITSELF  159 


HISTORY  REPP;ATS  ITSELF.* 
in 

IN  MY  first  article  on  this  subject,  I  said  that  the 
psychological  forces  which  act  as  motives  in 
human  nature  will  forever  remain  the  same,  and, 
therefore,  when  people  live  closely  together,  the  con- 
sequence wrill  be  a  conflict  of  interest,  which  will  result 
in  enmity,  either  by  acts,  or  by  words,  or  by  feelings. 
The  more  our  moral  ideals  or  our  desire  for  outward 
appearance  require  the  suppression  of  our  actual  senti- 
ments, the  stronger  they  will  break  out  when  the 
accumulated  heat  has  reached  the  limits  of  expansion. 
Whenever  there  is  a  community  of  interests,  the  diver- 
sity in  methods  will  be  stronger  than  the  fellowship  of 
endeavor.  I  knewr  an  old-fashioned  Je\v,  who  said: 
"The  best  thing  for  our  people  would  be,  it  all  of  them 
could  be  made  postmasters."  When  asked,  why  he 
thought  so  much  of  this  occupation,  he  said:  "It  is 
not  because  ot  this  occupation,  but  because  every  one 
would  live  at  least  ten  miles  away  f  'om  his  neighbor 
and  there  would  be  no  opportunity  to  quarrel."  The 
same  is  true  of  rabbis,  and  therefore  we  understand 
why  literature  furnishes  so  many  instances  of  disagree- 
ment, malice  and  hatred,  among  the  members  of  the 
profession. 

At  the  head  of  the  rabbinical  period  of  Jewish 
history  stands  Rabban  Johanan  ben  Zakkai.  There 
is  as  everywhere  in  our  ancient  history,  a  thick  growth 
of  legends  around  this  historical  figure;  still,  we  can 
see  this  much,  that  he  was  an  extraordinary  character 
who  had  both  the  courage  and  the  power  to  gather  the 
*H.  U.  C.  Journal  Vol.1,  pages  103-105,  February  1897. 


160  SCROLLS 

dispersed  forces  at  a  moment  so  critical  as  was  the 
time  of  the  destruction  of  the  temple.  Such  a  man 
had  to  be  an  optimist,  a  man  who  believed  in  the 
mission  of  Judaism,  but  this  would  only  suffice  to 
make  him  the  reorganizer  of  a  community.  In 
order  to  succeed  in  the  latter  object  he  had  to  be  a 
man  of  conciliatory  spirit.  And  this  he  was.  We 
can  see  it  from  his  teachings  which  are  undoubtedly 
better  historical  sources  than  any  biographical  notes 
which  we  could  glean  from  the  Talmudic  legends. 
He  explains  the  law  that  an  altar  should  not  be  built 
of  hewn  stones  in  the  following  homily:  "The  stones 
of  the  altar  which  are  blind  and  deaf  and  mute  shall 
be  protected  against  the  pernicious  iron,  because  they 
bring  peace  into  the  world,  how  much  the  more  shall 
a  man  be  protected  against  all  evil  who  regards  it  as 
his  mission  to  establish  peace  and  good  will  on  earth." 
(Mekilta  xx,  25.) 

This  homily,  although  it  may  be  spurious,  shows 
us  the  historical  character  in  the  same  manner  in 
which  the  story  of  the  hatchet  shows  us  the  historical 
George  Washington.  In  Jabneh,  where  he  had  estab- 
lished a  school  which  was  considered  a  substitute  for 
the  doctrinal  authority  formerly  vested  in  the  San- 
hedrin,  it  happened  for  the  first  time  since  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem  that  New  Year's  day  fell  on  a  Sab- 
bath. In  former  times  the  strictly  observant  Phar- 
isees would  make  a  distinction  between  the  temple  of 
Jerusalem  and  the  synagog.  The  rites  of  the  former, 
as  divinely  ordained,  were  considered  obligatory,  the 
services  of  the  latter  were  a  custom,  not  a  duty. 
Consequently,  whenever  the  latter  conflicted  with 


HISTORY    REPEATS    ITSELF  161 


Sabbath  observance  they  were  not  permitted,  while 
the  rites  of  the  temple  took  preference  over  the  Sab- 
bath. According  to  the  view  of  the  Pharisees, 
playing  on  a  musical  instrument,  although  not  con- 
sidered work,  was  regarded  as  inconsistent  with  the 
Sabbath  rest — Sh'buth — and  therefore,  as  long  as  the 
temple  in  Jerusalem  existed,  the  blowing  of  the  horn 
was  allowed  in  the  temple  only,  not  in  the  synagog. 
The  Pharisees  were  a  low  church  party.  Like  all  such 
parties  in  ecclesiastical  history,  e.  g.,  the  Waldenses 
and  the  Methodists,  they  had  little  sympathy  with 
ritualism,  although  they  would  not  attack  it  directly. 
So  the  Pharisees,  not  objecting  to  the  rites  of  the  tem- 
ple, emphasized  the  importance  of  the  synagog. 

Now,  after  the  destruction  of  the  temple,  R. 
Johanan  ben  Zakkaj  thought  the  time  had  come  to 
transfer  one  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  house  which 
God  had  chosen,  to  the  house  where  he  was  worshipped. 
He  decided  that  in  spite  of  the  Sabbath  the  horn  should 
be  blown.  The  High-church  party  objected  just  as 
the  Catholic  church  objected  to  services,  at  which  no 
mass  was  said.  They  wished  to  know  what  reasons 
R.  Johanan  had  for  his  departure  from  tradition. 
He,  knowing  that  no  theological  argument  had  ever 
convinced  the  opponent,  said:  "Let  us  discuss  the 
matter  after  services."  After  services  the  opponents 
approached  him,  no  doubt  well  provided  with  ammu- 
nition for  a  theological  battle,  but  R.  Johanan  said: 
"We  cannot  afford  to  risk  our  authority  by  the 
acknowledgment  that  we  may  have  erred.  Practice 
has  decided,  and  theory  must  yield."  (Rosh  ha-shanah 
29b.) 


162  SCROLLS 

R.  Johanan  succeeded  in  preventing  a  religious 
disturbance.  It  could  not  always  have  been  an 
easy  task,  for  one  of  his  disciples,  when  asked  to 
state  what  the  most  desirable  thing  for  a  man  was, 
said:  "A  good  friend."  However,  during  his  life- 
time we  hear  of  no  disturbance  of  the  peace  of  Juda- 
ism. He  must  have  been  a  man  like  Mendelssohn,  who 
could  get  along  with  everybody.  Mendelssohn  who 
did  not  ask  for  R.  Hirschel  Levin's  indorsement  for 
his  Pentateuch — translation  and  commentary,  know- 
ing that  he  could  not  get  it,  but  said  that  he  thought  his 
efforts  were  to  insignificant  to  trouble  "the  princes  of 
Israel"  for  an  expression  of  opinion.  l 

The  Prussian  government  wanted  a  compendium  of 
the  Jewish  civil  lawr  and  asked  the  chief-rabbi,  Hirschel 
Levin  to  wrrite  it.  Mendelssohn  did  it  for  him,2  and 
Zunz  justly  remarked  that  R.  Hirschel  was  better 
known  through  Mendelssohn's  than  through  his  own 
writings,3  which  remains  true  even  today,  although 
R.  Hirschel's  notes  on  the  Talmud  have  meantime  been 
edited.  The  congregation  of  Berlin  wished  to  cele- 
brate some  patriotic  occasion,  Mendelssohn  wrote 
the  sermon,  and  it  was  published  as  a  translation  from 
the  Hebrew,  written  by  the  chief-rabbi.4 

Mendelssohn,  when  engaged  to  Fromet  Guggenheim, 
visited  Hamburg,  and  paid  his  respects  to  the  chief- 
rabbi,  Jonathan  Eybeschitz.  The  latter  felt  highly 
flattered,  and  expressed  regret  that  local  traditions  did 
not  permit  him  to  confer  on  such  a  distinguished 

1  Kayserling:  Moses  Mendelssohn,  page  289,  Leipsic,  1862. 
2ib.  280-281. 

3  Zunz:  Die  Monatstage  des  Kalenderjahres,  page  47.     Ber- 
lin,  1872. 

4  Kayserling,  I.e.  120. 


HISTORY    REPEATS    ITSELF  1ft.? 

visitor  the  D.  D.  (Morenu).5  Jacob  Emden  de- 
manded Mendelssohn's  assistance  in  his  efforts  to  have 
a  law  repealed  which  prohibited  the  early  burial 
custom  among  the  Jews.  Mendelssohn  refused,  and 
was  promptly  given  to  understand  that  he  was  a 
heretic.6  He  did  not  reply.  Eybeschutz's  successor 
Raphael  Kohen  intended  to  pronounce  excommuni-, 
cation  upon  all  whostudied  Mendelssohn's  Pentateuch. 
The  latter  applied  to  a  friend,  who  obtained  for  his  work 
the  subscription  of  the  Danish  court.  R.  Raphael 
dared  not  condemn  a  book  which  the  court  had  so 
highly  honored,  and  Mendelssohn  was  satisfied.7 
So,  he  never  wrote  a  line  against  any  of  his  rabbinical 
antagonists,  not  even  against  Ezekiel  Landau,  who 
had  proven  that  R.  Eliezer  ben  Hyrkanos  had,  in  his 
prophetic  spirit,  1650  years  before  Mendelssohn's 
Pentateuch  was  published,  declared  this  book  to  be 
dangerous.8  So,  Mendelssohn  was  privileged  to 
give  to  Judaism  a  new  direction,  and  was  saved  from 
the  usual  lot  of  reformers.  He  lived  and  died  in 
peace.  Similar  to  his,  was  the  character  of  R. 
Johanan  ben  Zakkai.  But  a  conflict  may  be  avoided 
by  a  man.  It  cannot  be  avoided  by  a  cause.  And 
this  was  the  experience  which  was  in  store  for  Rabban 
Gamaliel,  R.  Johanan's  successor,  as  it  fell  to  the  lot 
of  Aaron  Chorin  and  Abraham  Geiger  who  continued 
the  work  of  Mendelssohn. 

5  KcremHemed,  III,  224.    Gractz.Geschichte,  X,.*97.3rd.ed. 

6  Kayserling,  I.e.  277. 

7  Graetz,  Geschichtc,  XI,  48. 

8  Zelah  ad  Berakot,  28,  b.     Prague,  1791. 


THE  YEAR  1903  IN  JEWISH  HISTORY.* 

WRITING  history  of  our  own  age  fills  us  with  the 
importance  of  the  historian's  task.  It  teaches 
us  the  difficulty  of  gathering  reliable  information,  of 
properly  grouping  and  of  scientifically  selecting  the 
facts  wrhich  make  history.  Official  documents  always 
speak  with  a  viewr  of  the  public  and  not  with  regard 
to  the  information  of  posterity.  Where  a  resignation 
from  a  pulpit  is  tendered  with  heavy  heart  because  of 
ill  health  and  accepted  with  great  reluctance,  the 
whole  procedure  is  often  a  kind  way  of  kicking  out 
the  man,  although  the  minutes  of  the  congregation, 
a  first-class  contemporary  source,  state  the  contrary. 
On  the  other  hand,  people  in  a  position  to  know  with- 
hold the  facts,  partly  because  they  are  interested  in 
keeping  the  matter  quiet,  partly  because  they  would 
get  themselves  into  trouble,  and  so  even  from  con- 
temporary sources  we  learn  a  great  deal  with  is  not  true 
and  are  kept  in  ignorance  of  many  things  which  are 
true.  I  envy  people  who  are  so  positive  about  the 
reasons  for  R.  Eliezer  ben  Hyrcanus'  excommunica- 
tion,1 for  I  know  a  man  who  was  discharged  from  a 
charitable  institution  because  of  serious  breach  of 
morality,  while  officially  he  had  resigned,  considering 
it  incompatible  with  his  religious  views  that  chil- 
dren under  his  care  should  be  permitted  to  write  on 
Sabbath. 

*From  Hebrew  Union  College  Annual,  1904. 
»Baba  Mezia,  59  b. 


166  SCROLLS 

This  premise  was  necessary  in  order  to  find  an  excuse 
for  my  own  shortcomings.  Often  enough  in  teach- 
ing and  writing  I  hear  Mephistopheles  whisper: 

Habt  Ihr  von  Gott,  der  Welt  und  was  sich  drin 

bewegt, 

Definitionen  nicht  mit  grosser  Kraft  gegeben? 
Und  wollt  Ihr  recht  ins  Innre  gehen, 
Habt  Ihr  davon,  Ihr  muesst  es  grad'  gestehen, 
So  viel  als  von  Herrn  Schwerdtleins  Tod  gewusst! 

There  is,  however,  another  great  difficulty  in  writing 
Jewish  history.  It  extends  over  so  vast  a  territory 
and  embraces  such  a  variety  of  subjects  that  one  must 
be  posted  on  the  political  economy  of  Hungary,  as  well 
as  on  the  police  laws  of  Russia,  in  order  to  do  justice 
to  the  task.  Careful  reading  of  the  papers  of  all 
countries,  coupled  with  an  extensive  correspondence, 
would  be  necessary  in  order  to  obtain  correct  infor- 
mation on  the  facts  which  go  to  make  history  of  the 
Jews.  One  man  could  not  do  it;  it  would  require 
a  seminar  with  some  means  at  its  command  in  order 
to  prepare  the  material  for  the  future  historian.  Let 
us  hope  that  this  annual  will  pave  the  way. 

Till  Eulenspiegel,  when  asked  how  a  wise  man 
should  act,  answered:  See  how  the  fools  are  acting 
and  do  the  opposite.  If  we  understand  this  advice 
not  literally  but  merely  in  the  sense  that  the  conscious- 
ness of  failure  is  the  first  step  toward  imp"ovement, 
this  rule  ,vill  apply  to  Jewish  historiography.  Our 
historians  have  been  accustomed  to  look  upon  Jewish 
history  too  much  from  the  rabbinical  point  of  view. 
Graetz  closes  his  "Vokstuemliche  Geschichte  der 
Juden"  with  the  establishment  of  the  rabbinical 


JEWISH    HISTORY     I  .V     1903  167 


seminaries  to  which  he  ascribe^  the  task  assigned  to 
the  prophet  Elijah  in  the  Talmud,2  viz.,  to  solve  all 
difficulties.  He  therefore  sees  in  the  rabbinical  sem- 
inaries the  fulfilment  of  the  Messanic  prophecies. 
To  me  the  admission  of  Lionel  de  Rothschild  to  the 
English  Parliament  means  a  great  deal  more,  and 
Jews'  College  is  merely  a  slow  consequence  of  that 
fact.  In  1782  Loeb  Cohen,  or,  as  he  was  officially 
called,  Levi  Barent  Cohen,  Lionel  de  Rothschilds' 
grandfather,  addressed  a  letter  to  Ezekiel  Landau, 
chief  rabbi  of  Prague,  asking  him  whether  it  was  per- 
missible to  open  an  umbrella  oji  the  Sabbath,  which  the 
rabbi  of  course  denied.3  With  men  of  Loeb  Cohen's 
type  as  leading  laymen,  rabbis  like  Tebele  Schiff  or 
Solomon  Herschell  were  in  full  harmony,  while  with 
Lionel  de  Rothschild  as  Parnas  a  rabbi  had  to  be  a  man 
of  German  academic  training,  so  long  as  Jewish  min- 
isters of  English  education  could  not  be  obtained,  and 
so  Alfred  L.  Cohen,  Loeb's  great-grandson,  quite 
consistently  founded  a  prize  for  the  students  of  Jews' 
College  showing  the  greatest  proficiency,  not  in  the 
solution  of  ritual  questions,  but  in  English  literature.4 

Similarly  Graetz  devoted  a  disproportionately  large 
space  to  the  controversy  between  Jacob  Linden  and 
Jonathan  Eybeschuetz,  while  he  does  not  mention  the 
important  part  which  the  Jews  at  that  time  played 
as  farmers  of  the  tobacco  monopoly  and  as  pioneer 
manufacturers. 

If  we  do  not  wish  to  fall  into  the  same  error,  we 
must  look  upon  Jewish  history  from  the  point  ot  view 

-  Kcluyoth   VIII,  7. 

3  Noda  Bi-Yehudah,  2d  collection.  Orach  Chajim,  No.  40. 

4  Jewish  Chronicle,  Dec.  190.?,  p.  S. 


168  SCROLLS 

of  the  Jewish  people.  In  this  respect  the  year  1903 
will  rank  next  to  1096  and  1648  The  massacres  of  the 
crusades  and  of  the  Cossacks  have  been  repeated  with 
only  such  changes  as  the  twentieth  century  accomp- 
lishments, like  the  telegraph,  newspaper,  international 
politics,  etc.,  required.  The  slaughter  of  Kishineff, 
April  19-20  and  its  sequel  at  Homel,  September  14, 
will  be  as  black  spots  on  the  pages  of  Russian  history  as 
the  St.  Bartholomew  was  for  France,  and  the 
Inquisition  for  Spain.  On  Kishineff  we  have  quite 
a  literature,5  and  concerning  Homel  information  is 
given  in  the  Jewish  Encyclopedia.  It  is  needless  to 
repeat  here  the  horrible  details.  The  fact  remains  that 
in  a  large  city  with  a  military  garrison  the  authorities 
allowed  the  mob  for  two  days  full  freedom  of  murder- 
ing, pillaging  and  raping.  No  attempt  at  white- 
washing will  ever  free  the  Russian  government  'from 
the  responsibility  for  this  outrage.  The  government 
had  been  informed  that  the  violent  diatribes  of  Krush- 
evan  in  his  two  papers,  the  Besarabetz  of  Kishineff  and 
the  Znamiya  of  St.  Petersburg,  incited  the  populace  to 
bloodshed;  the  local  governor  was  invoked  by  the 
Jews  in  time  to  prevent  the  imminent  massacre,  but 
the  government  seems  to  have  thought  that  a  little 
Jew-killing  would  be  a  good  means  to  cool  the  passions 

5  W.  C.  Stiles:  Out  of  Kishineff,  New  York,  1903;  H.  Dagan: 
Les  Massacres  de  Kishinef  et  la  situation  des  proletaires  juifs  en 
Russie  in  Cahiers  de  la  quinzaine,  Paris,  1903;  Leo  Errera:  Les 
massacres  de  Kishinef,  Brussels,  1903;  Michael  Davitt:  Within 
the  Pale.  A  true  story  of  anti-semitic  persecution  in  Russia. 
Philadelphia  &  New  York,  1903;  Told:  Die  Judenmassacres  in 
Kischinew,  Berlin,  n.  d.;  Wladimir  Korolenko:  Haus  13.  Eine 
Episode  aus  dem  Kischinewer  Massacre,  Berlin,  1904;  Isidore 
Singer:  Russia  at  the  bar  of  the  American  people.  A  memorial 
of  Kishinef,  New  York,  1904;  The  voice  of  America  on  Kishinef, 
edited  by  Cyrus  Adler,  Philadelphia,  1904. 


JE  IV I  S  II    HI  S  TO  RY   IN   1903  169 


of  the  mob,  and  to  turn  them  away  from  revolutionary 
movements.  The  best  proof  for  the  truth  of  this  is 
the  Easter  season  of  1904,  which  was  absolutely  free 
from  the  usual  holiday  celebrations  of  the  Russian 
mob,  although  the  war  in  the  East  must  have  consider- 
ably reduced  the  military  forces,  and  although  political 
agitators  spread  the  old  calumny,  recurring  in  every 
war  since  medieval  times,  that  the  Jews  aided  the 
enemy.  The  pompous  edict  of  the  Czar,  issued  March 
12,  which  proclaimed  religious  liberty,  while  not  moder- 
ating the  least  of  the  disabilities  under  which  Jews  and 
Christian  dissenters  are  suffering,  shows  clearly  that 
the  world  was  to  be  deceived  by  the  pretense  that  the 
mob  was  beyond  control  of  the  authorities  in  its  justi- 
fied provocation  by  the  usurious  practices  of  the  Jews, 
a  statement  given  prominence  by  Count  Cassini,  the 
Russian  ambassador  to  the  United  States,  although,  as 
the  reception  of  the  delegates  of  representative  Jewish 
bodies  by  President  Roosevelt  and  Secretary  of  State 
Hay  June  15,  proves  the  trick  had  no  effect. 

The  general  policy  of  the  Russian  administration 
with  regard  to  the  Jews  had  not  been  unfavorable. 
Within  the  Pale  of  Settlement,  where,  according  to 
the  law  of  May  3  (15),  1882,  residence  in  the  villages 
is  prohibited  to  the  Je\vs,  101  villages  were  raised 
to  the  rank  of  towns,  May  23, 6  and  about  fifty  others 
have  been  added  to  the  list  since.  In  individual 
instances  Jewish  students  were  permitted  to  enter 
colleges  beyond  the  limit  fixed  by  law,  and  the  Senate. 
often  appealed  to  in  the  numerous  difficulties  which 
the  restrictive  laws  against  the  Jews  otter  to  interpre- 
tation, has  in  general  taken  a  more  liberal  view. 
6  Hazefirah,  No.  119. 


170  SCROLLS 

While  the  Senate,  being  a  court,  is  not  officially  an 
exponent  of  the  government's  policy,  it  hardly  seems 
to  admit  of  any  doubt  that  there  is  a  desire  on  the 
part  of  the  government  to  have  the  law  interpreted 
in  a  more  liberal  way.  A  decided  improvement  can 
not,  of  course,  be  expected  unless  Russia  changes  her 
entire  system  of  government,  which  under  present 
conditions  seems  not  unlikely.  The  Talmud  says: 
The  ring  which  Ahasverus  handed  to  Haman  had  a 
greater  effect  than  the  preaching  of  the  forty-eight 
prophets  and  seven  prophetesses  who  arose  in  Israel,7 
which  means  that  a  national  disaster  has  more  effect 
than  any  sermon  in  removing  inveterate  evils.  The 
battle  of  Jena,  1806,  brought  regeneration  to  Prussia, 
and  to  the  Jews  the  declaration  in  the  edict  of  March 
11,  1812,  that  they  are  "Buerger  und  Einlaender." 
The  battle  of  Koeniggraetz,  1866,  brought  to  Austria 
the  "Staatsgrundgesetze"  of  December  21,  1867, 
which  removed  the  last  disabilities  of  the  Jews.  The 
blowing  up  of  the  Petropavlovsk  and  the  crossing  of 
the  Yalu  river  may  have  the  same  result  for  theRussian 
Jews. 

Conditions  in  the  East  show  us  what  an  immense 
amount  of  labor  is  awaiting  us,  when  once  the  Jewish 
question  in  Russia  has  been  settled.  Persia  and 
Morocco  present  precisely  the  same  picture  which 
conditions  in  Europe  showed  at  the  time  of  the 
crusades.  About  Persia  the  only  source  of  information 
comes  through  the  reports  of  the  principals  of  the 
schools  maintained  by  the  Alliance  Israelite  Universel- 
le.  It  is  the  same  monotonous,  sad  story  of  Jewish 
peddlers  murdered  in  the  villages,  where  they  are 
7Megillah,  14,  a. 


JEM' I  S  II    HI  STO  RY   I  N    1903  171 


transacting  their  business,  ot  occasional  outbreaks  of 
mob  violence  against  the  whole  population  of  a  town, 
of  an  unwillingness  and,  often  enough,  of  the  inability 
of  the  authorities  to  put  a  stop  to  such  outrages, 
while  the  spiritual  life  of  the  Jews  is  one  of  utter 
degradation  which  manifests  itself  in  incredible  super- 
stition and  laziness.  Morocco  had  her  usual  riots. 
Jewish  shops  were  looted  in  Mekinez  April  4,  and  the 
whole  Jewish  population  of  Staat  had  to  flee  for  their 
lives  November  17,  to  Casablanca,  where  the  British 
consul  took  them  under  his  protection.  The  defeat 
of  the  pretender  Bu  Hamara,  January  30,  evidently 
had  not  the  expected  effect  of  pacifying  the  country. 
Savages  have  among  other  prejudices  also  the  belief 
that  they  are  not  beaten  until  they  are  killed,  and  it 
seems  as  if  only  European  intervention  would  be  able 
to  produce  a  change  in  Morocco,  as  was  the  case  in 
Egypt.  The  latter  country,  however,  had  the  Easter 
excesses  which  localities  where  there  is  a  strong 
Greek  element  seem  to  require  for  the  proper  cele- 
bration of  the  miracle  of  Resurrection.  The  popu- 
lation of  Port  Said  committed  excesses  against  the 
Jews  March  25,  which,  however,  were  soon  suppressed. 
Roumania  has  of  late  seemed  inclined  to  at  least  partly 
redeem  the  pledges  given  at  the  Berlin  congress  of 
1878,  but  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether  this  is  not 
merely  a  ruse  for  the  sake  of  winning  the  good  will  of 
European  financiers  or  at  best  a  temporary  measure 
in  the  interest  of  the  country's  finances.  Some  of  the 
measures  decreed  during  the  last  year  were  exceedingly 
harsh.  The  president  of  the  Bucharest  police  pro- 
hibited the  selling  of  souvenir  postal  cards  by  Jews, 


172  SCROLLS 

and  said  to  a  committee  who  told  him  this  measure 
meant  starvation  for  them:  Either  hang  yourself  or 
emigrate.  Of  importance  perhaps  is  an  essay  pub- 
lished by  Judge  Mandrea  in  a  law-journal  in  which 
citizenship  was  claimed  for  Jews  born  on  Roumanian 
soil  who  had  served  in  the  Roumanian  army. 

While  in  Roumania  conditions  seem  to  be  improving 
Bulgaria,  which  before  its  independence  was  almost 
unknown  in  Jewish  history,  begins  to  work  for  a  place 
in  Greek  Christian  civilization.  Serious  excesses 
occurred  in  Sophia  June  14,  and  grave  complications 
may  be  apprehended  if  the  country,  which  is  a  political 
volcano,  should  see  another  outbreak.  Matters  of 
that  kind  come  suddenly  in  the  Balkan  territory,  as 
events  in  Servia  have  proven.  The  blood  accusation 
is  just  as  indispensable  there  as  in  all  the  other  Greek 
Catholic  countries,  and  Bechor  Chididji  was  on  trial 
for  five  years  under  such  an  accusation,  until  his  case 
was  finally  dismissed,  March  26. 

The  necrology  of  this  year  must  prominently  men- 
tion Pope  Leo  XIII.  who  died  in  his  ninety-fourth 
year,  July  21.  His  Pontificate  lasted  twenty-five  years 
and  was,  no  doubt,  the  most  powerful  one  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  nineteenth  century.  He  was  a  master 
of  the  art  of  diplomacy,  and  has  used  anti-semitism 
just  the  same  as  any  other  political  factor  by  which  the 
Church  could  profit.  He  denied  the  request  of  M  adame 
Dreyfus  to  say  a  word  in  behalf  of  her  husband;  he 
refused  to  utter  a  word  against  the  blood  accusation, 
although  he  was  approached  by  important  personal- 
ities, like  Sir  Horace  Rumbolt,8  at  that  time  English 
ambassador  in  Vienna,  but  on  the  other  hand,  he 
8  London  Times,  June  10,  1903. 


JEWISH    HISTORY   IN   1903  173 


repeated  to  Madame  Severine  the  usual  anti-semitic 
cant  that  the  Jews  own  all  the  wealth  of  the  world,  and 
he  repeatedly  decorated  anti-semitic  leaders,  as  it  was 
with  his  sanction  that  Drumont  in  Paris  and  Lueger  in 
Vienna  received  the  heartiest  support  of  ecclesiastic 
orders  and  dignitaries.  His  successor  will  not  be 
different,  although  he  received  Dr.  Herzl  in  private 
audience.  The  policy  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
will  always  be  that  of  Innocent  III.,  who  said  that 
the  Jews  must  be  kept  in  the  state  of  oppression,  so 
that  their  misery  might  be  a  testimony  to  the  glory 
of  Christ.  Still  the  twentieth  of  September,  1870,  is  a 
historic  fact,  and  the  recent  visit  of  President  Loubet 
to  the  Quirinal  is  something  which  cannot  entirely  be 
lost  as  an  example  to  other  Catholic  sovereigns,  al- 
though the  Pope  of  today  like  the  ten  successors  who 
shall  rule  after  him,  according  to  the  prophecy  of 
St.  Malachias,  will  proclaim  with  Heine: 

Das  alte   Canossa   ist   laengstens   untergegangen. 
Wir  moechten  ein  neues  bauen, 
Docht  fehlt  dazu  das  Beste, 
Die  Marmorsteine,  die  Ouadern 
Und  die  gekroenten  Gaeste. 

The  difference  between  the  time  of  the  Pope-King 
and  that  of  the  present  kingdom  of  Italy  cannot  better 
be  characterized  than  by  the  fact  that  Signer  Luzzatti 
has  been  for  the  fifth  time  called  to  the  ministry  of 
Finance,  November  3,  while  Giuseppe  Ottolenghi, 
who  in  the  former  ministry  had  occupied  the  post  of 
Minister  of  War,  has  been  given  the  command  of  an 
army  corps. 


174  SCROLLS 

France,  fighting  clericalism,  has  become  the  natural 
ally  of  Italy  and,  strange  to  say  the  rabbinical  philos- 
ophy of  history  has  again  been  justified  in  this  case. 
"Every  tyrannical  government  has  hated  Israel  and 
oppressed  it."9  As  long  as  France  was  in  the  clutches 
of  clericalism,  which  is  the  most  dangerous  form  of 
tyranny  the  world  has  ever  known,  it  had  to  have  a 
Jewish  victim.  The  collapse  of  the  monstrous  clerical 
intrigue,  the  victim  of  which  was  Captain  Dreyfus, 
seems  to  bring  the  improvement.  The  socialistic 
deputy  Jaures  reopened  the  Dreyfus  case  in  Parliament, 
April  6  and  the  Minister  of  War,  M.  Andre,  promised 
an  investigation.  The  petition  of  the  Captain  to  have 
his  trial  reopened  has  meantime  received  favorable 
consideration,  and  there  is  reasonable  hope  that  the 
cause  of  justice  will  finally  triumph. 

Algeria,  at  one  time  the  center  of  the  anti-semitic 
movement,  has  seen  an  anti-Jewish  riot  at  Medeasa, 
June  6,  but,  while  one  victim  was  killed  and  three 
others  wounded,  it  hardly  can  be  considered  significant. 
The  rioters  were  Mohammedans  who  have  not  yet 
become  reconciled  to  the  French  rule  in  the  seventy- 
five  years  of  its  existence,  and  have  not  learned  the 
lessons  of  civilization.  Nor  do  the  new  ordinances 
for  the  election  of  the  Algerian  consistory,  issued 
September  21,  deserve  any  particular  notice.  It  will 
never  do  to  introduce  a  hierarchical  system  into  Juda- 
ism, and  therefore  the  whole  consistorial  constitu- 
tion, now  almost  a  century  old,  will  never  be  more 
than  a  stage  scenery,  and  especially  so  in  the  Orient, 
where  the  natives  look  upon  a  European  Jew  as  a 
sort  of  heathen  of  Jewish  descent. 
9  Leviticus  Kabbah,  Ch.  13. 


JK  W  I  SH    II I  STO  RY  IN   1903  175 

England,  for  over  two  centuries  the  haven  of  refuge 
for  persecuted  Jews,  seems  to  be  on  the  eve  of  changing 
her  traditional  policy  of  hospitality  to  the  oppressed. 
The  Alien  Immigration  Commission  which  was  in 
session  in  1902,  finished  its  labors  and  handed  its 
reports  to  the  Home  Secretary,  August  11.  The  par- 
liamentary debates  now  in  progress  hardly  leave  any 
doubt  that  some  restrictive  measures  against  immi- 
gration will  be  passed,  and  that  they  are  aimed 
against  Russian  Jews.  Difficulties  are  also  encounter- 
ed by  Jewish  immigrants  in  the  colonies  of  South 
Africa  where  new  laws  of  a  restrictive  nature  have 
been  passed,  and  even  those  who  had  left  Europe 
before  the  passage  of  the  new  laws,  arriving  in  ("ape- 
town  after  their  enactment,  were  refused  landing, 
February  2.  In  this  connection  the  generous  offer  by 
the  British  government  of  a  large  territory  to  Jewish 
colonists  in  Central  Africa  must  be  mentioned.  The 
Zionist  congress,  held  in  Basle,  August  23-30,  was 
startled  by  the  Offer  of  Uganda.  The  offer  created 
quite  a  stir.  While  a  majority  adopted  it,  and  while 
the  minority  accepted  the  decision,  a  strong  opposition 
arose  later  on,  chiefly  under  the  leadership  of  Engineer 
Ussischkin,  and  a  conference  of  Russian  Zionists 
held  in  Charkov,  protested  against  the  proposed 
Uganda  colony  as  a  sort  of  treachery  to  the  Zionist 
cause.  Meantime  a  compromise  seems  to  have  been 
reached  at  the  meeting  of  the  Greater  Actions  Com- 
mittee in  Vienna,  and  the  question  will  be  studied. 
There  have  already  been  heard  within  that  territory 
voices  of  strong  protest  against  the  settlement  of 
Jews  who  would  make  of  it  a  "Jewganda,"  and  even 


176  SCROLLS 

if  adopted,  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  success 
of  this  scheme  will  be  any  greater  than  that  in  Argen- 
tine, especially  when  the  settlers  go  there  with  the 
conviction  that  their  new  home  is  merely  a  "night's 
lodging"  and  a  "way  station  on  the  march  to  Pales- 
tine," as  one  of  the  leaders  said  in  Basle.  At  all 
events  it  is  a  pity  that  the  Jewish  Colonization  Asso- 
ciation should  have  refused  to  co-operate  with  the 
Zionists  in  the  consideration  of  the  British  govern- 
ments' offer  and  declined  to  enter  into  any  consider- 
ation of  Herzl's  request  to  assist  in  defraying  the  cost 
of  a  commission  to  be  sent  to  Africa. 

The  anti-semitic  agitation  in  Germany  seems  to  be 
waning,  which,  however,  does  not  mean  that  the 
political  condition  of  the  Jews  has  in  any  way  been 
improved.  The  elections  to  the  Reichstag,  held 
June  16,  brought  victory  to  only  one  anti-semitic 
candidate;  the  by-elections  which  decide  the  contest 
between  the  two  candidates  who  received  the  highest 
vote,  if  none  received  the  majority  of  all  votes  cast, 
took  place  June  26.  They  resulted  in  the  return  of 
eight  additional  delegates,  who  thus  form  an  anti- 
semitic  party  of  nine  members,  split  into  two  factions. 
Thus  their  number  is  by  no  means  formidable,  al- 
though they  have  received  two  additional  mandates 
in  special  elections  held  since.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  are  different  factors  which  must  be  considered. 
A  number  of  members,  belonging  to  other  parties, 
are  in  sympathy  with  the  anti-semites,  and  even  the 
liberals,  pressed  to  the  wall  by  the  growing  power  of 
the  socialists,  are  unwilling  as  a  rule  to  expose  them- 
selves in  advocating  the  cause  of  the  Jews.  Anti- 
semitic  in  their  sympathies  are  also  the  clericals, 


JEWISH    HISTORY   IN   1903  177 


although  they  are  careful  not  to  show  it.  In  Hoch- 
felden,  Alsace,  excesses  were  committed  against  the 
Jews,  June  28,  because  they  were  considered  to  be 
the  cause  of  the  defeat  of  the  clerical  candidate. 
The  King  of  Saxony  even  went  so  far  as  to  congratu- 
late Mr.  Graefe,  the  anti-semitic  delegate  for  Bautzen- 
Kamenz,  upon  his  victory.  This  congratulation  was, 
of  course,  meant  more  for  the  victory  over  the  socialist, 
but  it  remains  a  fact  that  His  Majesty  would  rather 
have  an  anti-semite  than  a  socialist. 

The  heir-presumptive  to  the  diminutive  throne  of 
Schwarzburg  called  on  Mr.  Graefe  to  express  to  him 
his  gratification  at  the  victory  of  the  national  cause. 
Various  interesting  lessons  are  to  be  learned  from  this 
little  incident.  The  principality  of  Schwarzburg  was 
one  of  those  where  the  Jews  were  "civilized"  by  a  pater- 
nal government.  It  appointed  for  them  a  Land- 
rabbiner,  the  venerable  Philip  Heidenheim,  who  will 
complete  his  ninetieth  year  June  14,  and  who  holds 
the  record  for  the  longest  term  of  office  in  any  com- 
munity, having  preached  his  sixty-seventh  Pesach 
sermon  on  Passover  last.  The  same  government 
recommended  to  its  beloved  Jewish  subjects  the  sub- 
scription to  the  Allgemeine  Zeitung  des  Judenthums, 
when  it  first  appeared  in  1837,  but  still  its  next  ruler, 
although  all  his  Jewish  subjects  know  how  to  read 
German  now,  and  have  stopped  peddling,  descends 
from  his  prospective  throne  to  call  on  an  humble 
Herr  Graefe,  because  the  latter  as  anti-semite  will 
save  the  fatherland. 

Sadly  interesting  is  the  fact  that  to  Mr.  Graefe's dist- 
rict belongs  the  city  of  Kamenz,  where  one  hundred 


178  SCROLLS 

and  seventy-five  years  ago  Gotthold  Ephraim  Lessing, 
the  author  of  "Nathan  der  Weise,"  was  born.  The 
citizens  of  Kamenz  have  not  done  great  honor  to  their 
famous  countryman. 

Elections  to  the  Prussian  diet,  held  November  19, 
resulted  in  the  return  of  two  anti-semites  and  seven 
Jews,  the  latter  not  known  to  be  anti  Semites,  a  state- 
ment which,  as  will  be  seen  later,  is  not  entirely  super- 
fluous. This  difference,  so  much  the  more  astonish- 
ing, when  we  learn  that  in  the  Reichstag  outside  of 
the  socialistic  party  no  Jewish  candidate  is  elected, 
becomes  clear  when  we  remember  that  the  mode  of 
election  is  entirely  different,  as  in  the  Prussian  diet  the 
middle  classes  possess  the  franchise  exclusively,  and 
the  Jews  naturally  are  there  as  a  considerable  factor 
willing  to  support  the  candidate  of  the  liberals  with- 
out demanding  any  service  in  return.  How  far  the 
Jews  will  go  in  their  self  abnegation  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  in  Schlochau  three  Jews  with  the  local 
"Prediger"  at  the  head  came  out  in  favor  of  the 
anti-semitic  candidate  Boeckler,  editor  of  the  anti- 
semitic  paper  "Staatsbuergerzeitung,"  who  had  been 
sentenced  to  one  year  in  jail  for  libeling  the  authorities, 
as  shielding  the  Jews  at  the  ritual  murder  trial  of 
Konitz.  This  was  supposed  to  demonstrate  the 
unselfish  patriotism  of  the  Jews  who  would  rather  see 
an  anti-semite  than  a  socialist  elected.  Similarly, 
Mr.  Wolfskehl  of  Darmstadt  came  out  in  support  of 
the  anti-semitic  candidate,  although  his  liberal  friends 
had  kicked  him  out  of  the  diet  of  Hesse,  of  which  he 
had  been  a  member,  in  order  to  oblige  their  anti- 
semitically  inclined  followers. 


JEWISH    HISTORY   IN   1903  179 

The  actions  of  the  authorities  are  in  no  wise  more 
favorable  to  the  Jews  than  that  of  the  political 
parties.  It  is  an  open  secret  that  a  Jew  cannot  be 
appointed  an  officer  in  the  German  army,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Bavarian  contingent.  Graduates  of 
higher  institutions  have  the  right  to  serve  only  one 
year  instead  of  two  and  after  the  completion  of  their 
term  of  service  they  are,  if  capable,  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  officers  in  the  reserve.  To  Jews  this  dis- 
tinction is  denied.  An  especially  interesting  fact  was 
publicly  discussed  through  the  publication  of  a  letter 
addressed  to  the  Kaiser  by  the  Breslau  attorney 
Justizrath  Feige,  October  10.  Mr.  Feige's  son  had 
served  as  volunteer  and  had  been  refused  admission 
to  the  officers'  examination.  His  father,  who  had 
served  in  the  Franco-Prussian  war  and  had  been  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  lieutenant,  which  even  then  was 
a  very  rare  distinction  for  a  Jew,  wrote  to  the  Kaiser 
complaining  that  as  far  as  Jews  are  concerned  the 
equality  of  all  citizens  before  the  law  is  a  dead  letter. 
The  emperor's  Kabinetskanzlei  (office  of  private 
secretary)  replied  that  young  Mr.  Feige  was  dealt 
with  according  to  his  merit,  whereupon  Mr.  Feige 
justly  called  attention  to  the  fact  that,  although  Jews 
supply  a  large  percentage  of  the  volunteers,  none  of 
them  is  appointed  officer  in  the  reserve.  Once  in  a 
while  an  officer  will  let  the  cat  out  of  the  bag.  So  it 
happened  to  a  young  man  named  Hauptmann  in 
Breslau  who  wanted  to  enter  as  volunteer  for  two 
years.  While  in  such  a  case  the  volunteer  has  to 
serve  the  same  length  of  time  as  the  regularly  con- 
scripted men,  he  has  the  advantage  of  finishing  his  term 


180  SCROLLS 

of  service  sooner.  Decision  in  such  a  case  rests  with 
the  captain  of  the  company  into  which  the  volunteer 
wishes  to  enter.  The  captain  received  Mr.  Haupt- 
mann  very  cordially,  but  a  few  days  later  he  received 
notice  that  Jewish  volunteers  are  not  wanted,  and 
that  the  promise  was  made  before  he  knew  that  the 
applicant  was  a  Jew.  The  matter  was  brought  to  the 
notice  of  the  authorities  who  regretted  the  form  in 
which  the  refusal  had  been  expressed,  but  the  matter 
itself  was  not  remedied.  The  practical  exclusion  of 
Jews  from  public  offices  was  discussed  in  the  Prussian 
diet  March  9.  The  liberals  condemned  this  policy, 
the  minister  of  course  denied  any  knowledge  of  it, 
while  the  conservatives  insisted  on  the  theory  of  the 
Christian  state,  an  idea  first  advocated  by  the  convert 
Friedrich  Julius  Stahl.  This  time  it  was  another  con- 
vert, Professor  Friedberg,  who  ridiculed  the  idea,  but 
the  fact  that  he  is  a  convert  to  Christianity  shows  that 
he  knows  well  enough  that  the  idea  of  the  state  as 
strictly  secular  is  a  mere  theory.  In  Bavaria,  where 
the  clericals  form  the  majority,  the  minister  declared 
himself  openly  against  the  appointment  of  Jews  as 
teachers,  and  the  protest  of  the  council  of  Nuremberg 
had  no  effect,  February  17. 

The  saddest  result  of  the  anti-semitic  agitation  was 
the  cruel  murder  of  Abraham  Levi,  a  Polish  typesetter 
in  Stegers,  a  village  of  West  Prussia,  September  28. 
The  facts  of  this  case  have  never  been  fully  made  clear. 
Stegers  is  in  the  neighborhood  of  Konitz,  where  the 
murder  of  the  high  school  boy  Ernst  Winter,  March  11, 
1900,  has  created  an  excitement  which  is  not  yet  over. 
Levi,  who  came  to  the  village  inn,  was  teased  by  the 


JEW  I  S II    II  I  S  T  O  R  Y   I  X    1  9  0  3  181 

people  present,  who  asked  him  whether  he  had  come 
for  the  sake  of  obtaining  Christian  blood.  He  is  said 
to  have  answered  with  a  remark  insulting  the  Christian 
religion.  The  real  facts  cannot  be  ascertained,  for 
Levi  was  so  mercilessly  beaten  that  next  morning  he 
was  found  dead,  and  the  murderers  naturally  had  to 
make  an  attempt  to  excuse  their  brutality.  It  shows 
a  disheartening  condition  of  public  morality  that  one 
of  the  murderers  escaped  punishment,  while  the 
other  was  sentenced  to  one  year  in  jail.  One  year  in 
jail  for  killing  a  man!  while  Moritz  Lewy  was  sentenced 
to  four  years  in  the  penitentiary  for  alleged  perjury 
which,  if  he  had  been  guilty  of  it,  could  not  have  been 
intended  to  harm  anybody,  nor  could  any  come  out  of 
it.  Moritz  Lewy,  out  of  anti-semitic  motives,  had 
been  suspected  of  the  murder,  but  he  succeeded  in 
proving  an  alibi  which  was  beyond  question.  During 
his  trial,  however,  he  had  sworn  that  he  never  knew 
Winter,  while  several  persons  testified  that  they  had 
seen  them  together,  which  he  admitted  as  possible, 
saying  that  he  might  have  talked  to  him  occasionally 
without  knowing  him  by  name.  In  spite  of  the 
probability  of  this  statement  and  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  only  motive  for  such  perjury,  if  he  should 
have  committed  it,  could  have  been  the  fear  of  im- 
plicating himself  by  such  an  admission.  Lewy  was 
sentenced  to  four  years  in  the  penitentiary,  and  was 
only  pardoned  October  11,  after  having  served  half 
his  time.  Of  late  the  authorities  have  been  a  little 
more  rigorous  in  the  prosecution  of  anti-semitic 
excesses,  and  for  such  a  libel  Paul  Koch  was  sent  to 
jail  for  six  months,  January  31,  while  Count  Pueckler, 
who  constantly  delivers  the  wildest  harangues  against 


182  SCROLLS 

the  Jews,  was  merely  fined  450  marks  for  saying  that 
the  Jews  had  hired  an  assassin  to  poison  him,  when  he 
was  touring  in  Switzerland,  January  7.  The  Count 
who  openly  preaches  violence  and  murder  against  the 
Jews,  and  among  other  things  recently  advised  the 
German  soldiers  to  shoot  their  Jewish  officers,  if  ever 
such  should  be  appointed,  is  decidedly  insane;  but  the 
people  will  have  it  that  the  treatment  of  a  count  is 
different  from  that  of  any  ordinary  mortal.  An  illus- 
tration of  this  is  the  punishment  of  editor  Wittenberg, 
who  was  sent  to  jail  for  three  months,  October  8, 
because  he  called  Pastor  Kroesell  a  hog-priest,  although 
he  actually  could  prove  that  Pastor  Kroesell  lived  in 
concubinage  with  his  housekeeper  and  was  otherwisean 
immoral  character.  This  pastor,  who  has  meantime 
been  discharged  from  the  ministry  because  of  his 
immoral  conduct,  is  a  classical  type  of  the  advantages 
which  anti-semitism  offers  to  Catilinarian  existences, 
an  experience  which  the  Talmud10  puts  into  the 
mouth  of  the  arch-anti-semite  Titus.  The  affair  of 
Konitz  suggested  to  him  the  idea  of  lecturing  on  the 
Talmud  and  on  the  depravity  of  the  Jews,  and  today  he 
is  a  member  of  the  Reichstag.  The  ecclesiastic  author- 
ities should  remember  that  such  men  cannot  possibly 
advance  the  interests  of  the  mission  to  the  Jews,  and 
that  of  them  the  words  of  Luther  with  regard  to  the 
Papists  will  hold  good,  that  had  he  been  born  a  Jew 
and  had  seen  how  some  of  these  Christians  act,  he 
would  rather  have  turned  a  hog  than  a  Christian.11 

And,  indeed,  the  General  Synod  of  the  Protestant 
Church  has  issued  a  circular  in  Prussia  to  the  consis- 

10  Gittin,  56,  b. 

11  Graetz,  Gesch.  ix,  197,  3d  ed. 


J  E  \V  I  SH    HISTO  RY   I  -V    1  9  0  3  1 83 


tories  to  be  caret ul  with  regard  to  the  conversion  of 
Jews;  the  reason  however  is  somewhat  different. 
Professor  Ladenburg  in  Breslau,  a  chemist,  had  said  in 
a  lecture  that  his  laboratory  furnished  him  no  evidence 
of  the  existence  of  a  soul.  Ladenburg,  the  son  of  one 
of  the  most  active  workers  for  the  cause  of  emanci- 
pation, the  Oberrath  Leopold  Ladenburg  of  Mann- 
heim, is  a  convert  to  Christianity.  The  synod  of 
which  Stoecker  is  one  of  the  leading  members  naturally 
does  not  remember  that  Haeckel  and  Buechner  were 
born  Christians,  and  that  David  Friedrich  Strauss 
was  even  a  Protestant  theologian.  Every  evil  must 
come  from  Judaism,  and  thus  the  Protestant  Church 
will  be  protected  against  infidels,  if  she  is  more  care- 
ful with  the  conversion  of  Jews.  Another  infidel  is  not 
only  a  born  Christian  and  the  son  of  the  leading  "posi- 
tive theologian,"  but  even,  as  it  appears,  a  mild  sort 
of  anti-semite.,  Friedrich  Delitzsch  delivered  a  new 
address  on  his  favorite  topic  "Babel  and  Bible"  in 
the  presence  of  the  Emperor  and  the  Empress,  Jan- 
uary 12.  His  expressions  were  somewhat  stronger 
than  on  former  occasions.  He  spoke  of  the  God  of  the 
Old  Testament  as  eating  veal  cutlets,  and  said  that 
he  had  not  found  much  monotheism  in  the  Hebrew 
Bible.  A  case  like  this  could  not  be  remedied  by  a 
circular  addressed  to  the  consistories,  and  some 
"positive"  Christians  complained  that  the  emperor 
encouraged  infidelity.  His  Majesty  found  it  necessary 
to  write  a  long  theological  letter  to  Admiral  Hollmann, 
January  15,  in  which  he  said  that  Delitzsch  was  not  so 
bad,  and  his  views  could  be  heard  by  any  Christian 
with  impunity,  "although  some  of  the  halo  of  the 
chosen  people  would  disappear"  owing  to  his  discover- 


184  SCROLLS 

ies.  So  it  seems  after  all  that  the  chief  object  of 
the  famous  Assyriologist  and  the  reason  for  the  em- 
peror's interest  in  Assyriology  are  to  be  found  in  the 
desire  to  make  the  Semitic  tinge  of  the  Teutonic  race 
disappear. 

A  decadent  community  has  always  been  hostile 
to  Israel,  as  we  can  see  from  the  time  of  Antiochus 
Epiphanes.  The  brutality  of  the  weak,  unable  to 
crush  its  powerful  enemies,  seeks  its  victims  among 
the  weaker.  This  experience  is  demonstrated  again 
in  the  case  of  Austria.  There  anti-semitism  shows  it- 
self in  two  different  characteristics.  In  the  civilized 
west  of  the  empire  the  mob  satisfies  its  brutality  with 
speeches,  while  in  the  half-Asiatic  east  the  old  fashion 
of  bloodshed  and  destruction  of  property  are  resorted 
to.  Burgomaster  Lueger  of  Vienna,  who  has  been 
re-elected  at  every  term  since  1896,  said  at  his  last 
inauguration,  April  16,  that  peace  reigned  in  the  city, 
but  this  peace  is  the  peace  of  merciless  boycott  against 
the  Jewish  citizens  of  the  Austrian  capital,  numbering 
about  150,000.  How  far  this  boycott  goes  is  evident 
from  an  interpellation  addressed  in  the  Reichsrath 
to  the  minister  of  education,  von  Hartel,  why  the 
Jewish  playwright  Arthur  Schnitzler  was  given  the 
Bauernfeld  prize.  Von  Hartel  had  the  courage  to 
answer  that  such  prizes  are  given  for  literary  merit 
More  in  line  with  time-honored  traditions  is  anti- 
semitism  in  Galicia,  that  part  of  Poland  which  was 
annexed  to  Austria.  In  Zablofow  the  Jews  were 
mobbed  September  1 1 ;  a  number  of  them  were  serious- 
ly wounded  and  a  great  deal  of  property  was  destroyed. 
The  mob  leaders,  among  whom  was  a  revenue  officer, 
received  ridiculously  mild  sentences  and  the  case 


JEWISH    HISTORY   IX    1903  185 


against  the  revenue  officer  who  led  the  charge  in  his 
uniform  with  drawn  sword  in  his  hands  was  even  dis- 
missed .  The  oligarchy  of  Polish  noblemen  who  actually 
control  the  government  has,  however,  more  modern 
and  effective  means  at  its  command,  and  so  they 
passed  a  strict  Sunday  law  which  means  economic 
ruin  to  the  great  mass  of  observant  Jews  in  the 
province.  A  committee  of  Galician  Jews  who  waited 
upon  the  prime  minister,  requesting  him  to  make  an 
exception  in  favor  of  those  Jews  who  observe  Sabbath, 
March  22,  had  no  success.  A  similar  measure  was 
enacted  in  Hungary,  where  anti-semitism  is  latent. 
The  minister  of  finance  decreed,  April  5,  that  tobacco 
dealers  who  are  under  his  jurisdiction,  as  tobacco  is 
the  government's  monopoly,  must  keep  their  entire 
shops  open  on  Sabbath,  while  formerly  they  had  been 
permitted  to  sell  tobacco  through  a  window,  handing 
this  business  over  to  a  Christian  for  the  day,  while 
their  store  remained  closed.  Small  as  is  this  matter, 
it  shows  the  tendency  of  the  government  which  became 
still  more  manifest  in  the  debates  in  the  diet  on  the 
immigration  of  Jews,  which  is  especially  large  in  the 
northern  district,  bordering  on  the  overpopulated 
Galicia,  where  the  condition  of  the  Jews  is  incredibly 
pitiful. 

Having  already  overstepped  the  limit  of  the  space 
accorded  me,  I  can  only  briefly  refer  to  the  internal 
condition  ot  Judaism.  To  us  the  most  prominent 
facts  in  this  respect  are  the  opening  of  the  new  building 
of  the  Jewish  Theological  Seminary  of  America  in 
New  York,  April  26  and  the  installation  of  Dr.  Kohler 
as  president  of  the  Hebrew  I'liion  College  in  Cincin- 
nati, October  18.  Both  institutions  are  splendidly 


186  SCROLLS 

endowed,  compared  with  the  condition  of  the  older 
European  seminaries.  New  York  has  half  a  million 
dollars  and  a  splendid  modern  building,  while  Cin- 
cinnati has  nearly  $400,000.  Still  when  I  mention 
this  fact  at  the  end  of  my  sketch  I  do  it  in  a  sense 
entirely  different  from  the  motives  which  actuated  my 
revered  teacher  Graetz.  I  feel  that  "Jewish  Science" 
occupies  the  last  place  in  the  range  of  Jewish  com- 
munal activities  and  aspirations.  While  the  whole 
country  has  in  about  thirty  years  created  two  insti- 
tutions, the  city  of  New  York  alone  has  succeeded  in 
raising  the  enormous  sum  of  $2,500,000  for  the  splend- 
id Mount  Sinai  Hospital,  Chicago  will  shortly  raise 
$800,000  for  a  new  hospital  building,  and  Cincinnati 
will  spend  $100,000  for  hospital  improvements. 
Baroness  Julie  Cohn-Oppenheim  the  daughter  of 
Baron  Moritz  Cohn,  the  banker  of  old  Kaiser  Wilhelm, 
left  upon  her  death,  January  5,  3,000,000  marks  each 
to  the  city  and  the  Jewish  congregation  of  Dessau. 
We  therefore  must  admit  that  the  liberality  manifested 
in  the  erection  and  the  endowment  of  the  two  Jewish 
institutions  of  learning  in  America  is  due  less  to  in- 
terest in  the  cause  of  "Jewish  Science"  than  to  the 
proverbial  generosity  of  the  Jews  of  whom  the  Talmud12 
says:  You  can  never  fathom  the  character  of  this 
nation ;  they  are  asked  to  give  for  the  golden  calf  and 
they  give,  they  are  asked  to  give  for  the  tabernacle  and 
they  give,  too.  It  would  be  unjustified  optimism  to 
see  in  it  a  genuine  enthusiasm  for  the  spiritual  cause 
of  Judaism.  The  best  proof  of  this  fact  is  that  the 
theological  students  mostly  come  from  the  ranks  of 
the  poor,  and  what  is  more  significant,  from  the  famil- 
12  Yerushalmi  Shekalim,  I,  1,  fol.  45,  d. 


J  E  IV  I  SH    II I  S  T  O  RY    I  .V    1  9  0  3  187 

ies  of  Polish  and  Russian  immigrants.  Both  are  in 
themselves  no  misfortune.  "Take  care  of  the  children 
of  the  poor,  says  already  the  Talmud13  for  from  them 
shall  go  forth  the  law,"  and  students  from  Polish  or- 
thodox families  bring  into  their  academic  study  the 
advantage  of  an  acquaintance  with  the  practical  law, 
and  consequently  a  good  Hebrew  vocabulary.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  highly  significant  that  our  con- 
gregations with  magnificent  temple  structures,  while 
they  furnish  the  funds  for  theological  instruction, 
are  unable  to  furnish  the  necessary  material  of  students 
and  even  if  the  king  of  Sodom  said  it,  it  would  have 
been  Abraham's  policy  under  the  same  condition: 
Give  me  the  persons  and  the  goods  keep  for  thyself.14 
Still  it  must  be  gratefully  acknowledged  that  some  of 
our  wealthy  brethren  are  willing  to  support  the  cause, 
which,  after  all,  is  the  only  safeguard  of  Israel's 
existence.  We  feel  it  so  much  the  more  keenly  when 
we  consider  how  great  our  losses  are  in  the  rank  of 
our  \\ealthiest  coreligionist.  A  typical  case  was  that 
of  Lord  Pirbright,  formerly  Baron  de  \Yorms  (died 
January  9),  the  grandson  of  the  Frankfort  "Schutz- 
jude"  Benedict  Worms  and  the  great-grandson  of 
Mayer  Amschel  Rothschild,  who  surprised  the  world 
by  his  request  to  be  buried  in  a  Christian  cemetery. 
Perhaps  this  distribution  of  means  on  one  side  and 
men  on  the  other  is  a  typically  Jewish  condition.  The 
power  was  given  to  Moses,  say  the  rabbis,15  and  the 
honor  to  Joshua,  for  if  both  had  been  given  to  Joshua 
the  equilibrium  of  society  would  have  been  disturbed. 

13  Xedarim,  81,  a. 

14  Gen.  xiv,  21. 

15  Sifre  ad  Dent,  xxxiii,  17,  cd.  Friedmann,  p.  146,  h. 


THE  YEAR  5665.* 

THE  POLITICAL  horizon  of  the  year  now  draw- 
ing to  its  close  is,  as  far  as  Jews  are  concerned, 
overhung  with  dark  clouds.  In  countries,  where  me- 
dievalism prevails,  and  the  life  and  the  property  of  the 
Jews  are  at  the  mercy  of  the  mob,  political  constellations 
are  ill-foreboding;  in  countries,  where  the  Jews  theo- 
retically possess  full  equality,  administrative  practice  or 
a  legislation,  shaped  to  hurt  the  Jew  without  naming 
him,  are  combining  to  take  with  the  left  hand  what 
was  given  by  the  right,  and  in  countries,  where  actually 
the  Jew  was  treated  with  perfect  equity,  grumblings 
are  heard  which  threaten  to  become  more  distinct. 
A  dark  cloud  is  overhanging  Morocco.  It  is,  with 
the  exception  of  Tripoli,  the  last  territory  of  the  North 
African  coast,  not  yet  under  European  control. 
France  and  England  seem  to  have  had  an  under- 
standing about  its  destiny,  but  the  Kaiser,  in  his  usual 
style  of  acting  as  deus  ex  machina,  spoiled  the  game. 
The  proposed  understanding  between  the  two  rival 
countries  has  as  yet  not  materialized.  Meantime 
murder  and  pillage  go  on  as  ever,  and  no  one  can  tore- 
see  what  will  be  the  future  of  the  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  Jews,  when,  with  the  inevitable  European  inter- 
vention, the  religious  and  national  fanaticism  of  the 
Arabs  will  call  a  holy  war  ag£iinst  the  Erench  and  all 
Christians.  It  is  clear  that  the  Jews  will  be  at  the 
mercy  of  the  savage  patriots. 
*The  American  Israelite,  September  28.  1905. 


190  SCROLLS 

A  crisis  of  lesser  magnitude  is  shaping  itself  in 
Arabia.  The  common  religion  can  not  bridge  over  the 
national  hatred  of  Turks  and  Arabs.  The  numerous 
Jews  of  Yemen  leave  in  ever  increasing  numbers  the 
country  where  their  ancestors  had  lived  before  Mo- 
hammed had  proclaimed  himself  Allah's  prophet, 
and  go  mostly  to  Jerusalem,  where  these  swarthy, 
little  fellows  with  their  corkscrew  Peoth  give  additional 
coloring  to  the  picturesque  international  community  of 
the  Holy  City  and  add  also  to  its  most  thrifty,  although 
unfortunately  no  less  to  its  most  needy  population. 
Persia  remains  stationary  and  perhaps  presents  today 
the  aspect  which  it  presented  at  the  time  when,  about 
1,700  years  ago,  Abba  Areka  returned  from  Palestine 
to  his  home  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates  and  when 
Ardeshir  had  restored  the  worship  of  the  Zoroastrian 
religion.  A  Jewish  peddler  is  occasionally  killed,  a 
Jewish  house  pillaged,  and  the  neighbors  take  it  as 
they  take  the  appearance  of  cholera  or  as  we  in  civil- 
ized countries  take  a  case  of  typhoid  fever. 

Roumania  for  a  change  has  a  conservative  ministry. 
It  means  that  another  gang  of  political  vultures  has 
gotten  a  chance  of  preying  on  public  funds,  while 
the  former  were  so  voracious  that  they  had  been  chased 
away  from  the  shambles.  Both  are  equally  interested 
in  inciting  the  mob  against  the  Jews  with  the  cry  of 
"stop  thief"  and  so  giving  to  somebody  else  the  privi- 
lege of  a  free  ride  in  the  patrol  wagon  sent  to  accom- 
modate them.  The  problem  of  Roumania,  however, 
is  not  so  very  grave,  and  if  Russia  did  not  absorb 
all  the  energies  of  the  Jewish  organizations,  the  240,- 
000  Jews  of  Roumania  could  at  the  present  rate  of 


THE     YEA  R    5  665  191 

emigration  he  disposed  of.  The  great  difficulty  lies 
in  Russia.  With  an  emigration  of  ahout  100,000  a 
year  the  congestion  and  the  poverty  in  the  Pale  remain 
appalling.  The  government  instead  of  lending  a  hand 
to  relieve  the  misery  does  its  utmost  to  aggravate  it. 
The  bureaucracy  knows  no  interest  except  its  own. 
It  wishes  to  keep  the  Jew  in  a  state  of  misery,  because 
the  wealthy  and  intelligent  Jew  is  an  addition  to  the 
forces  of  liberalism.  The  miserable  Jew  is  further 
an  easy  prey  of  mobs  which  must  be  humored  with 
an  occasional  fete  of  pillage,  and  finally  the  Jew  who 
clearly  sees  that  there  is  no  hope  for  him  under  the 
czar's  government  naturally  joins  the  revolutionary 
forces,  and  thus  on  the  one  hand  furnishes  an  excuse 
for  his  persecution,  and  on  the  other  a  support  to  the 
old  lie  of  all  tyrants  that  the  population  is  fully  con- 
tented with  the  present  form  of  government,  and  that 
it  is  only  the  cosmopolitan  Jew,  lacking  all  sense  of 
patriotism,  who  is  making  trouble.  This  is  the  secret 
of  all  the  pogroms  which  have  become  alarmingly 
numerous.  Mohilew,  Zhitomir  Brest  Litovsk,  Feodo- 
sia,  Melitopol,  Baku,  Warsaw,  Minsk,  Duenaburg,  and 
lately  the  horrors  of  Bialystok  recall  to  us  the  Cossack 
massacres  of  1648.  The  bulk  of  the  Russian  statesmen 
are  indeed  still  on  that  plane  of  civilization  on  which 
their  predecessors  stood  when  Peter  the  First,  opened 
the  window  in  the  Tartar  wall  dividing  Russia  trom 
Europe.  An  authority  like  Dr.  E.  J.  Dillon  wrote  in 
the  April  number  of  the  Contemporary  Review,  thai  the 
Russian  bureaucracy  tries  to  preserve  itself  In- 
bounding  one  party  of  her  subjects  against  the  other. 
The  trials  of  those  accused  of  participation  in  the 
Homel  and  in  the  Kishineff  riots  of  1903  dragged 


192  SCROLLS 

until  this  spring.  The  manner  in  which  the  trials 
were  conducted  and  the  sentences  imposed  upon  the 
murderers,  pillagers  and  rapists  was  such  as  to  put 
a  premium  on  these  acts.  The  cry  of  the  prophet, 
"How  long  wilt  thou  not  have  mercy?"  is  still  heavy 
on  our  mind.  The  restoration  of  peace  leaves  auto- 
cracy free  to  fight  the  rebellious  element  at  home. 
The  population,  including  the  opponents  of  autocracy, 
is  not  in  sympathy  with  the  Jews.  The  latter  have 
been  so  pauperized  and  degraded  by  centuries  of  ill- 
treatment  that  it  will  take  a  long  time  and  will  require 
a  wholesouled  devotion  based  on  passionate  sympathy 
to  create  in  the  Jewry  of  the  Pale  even  tolerable  con- 
ditions. The  intercession  of  representative  American 
Jews  with  Sergius  Witte,  Russian  plenipotentiary,  at 
the  peace  convention,  has  been  ridiculed  by  fault- 
finders and  has  been  judged  useless  by  serious  people. 
If  any  one  expected  that  immediately  following  these 
conferences  the  restrictions  on  the  Russian  Jews  would 
be  removed,  he  has  himself  to  blame  for  his  dissapoint- 
ment.  A  Polish  nobleman,  who  is  a  Roman  Catholic, 
and  with  whom  I  discussed  the  situation,  said  to  me: 
"The  Russian  always  says  'da' — in  Russian  'yes'  and 
in  Polish  'he  gives' — but  he- never  does  'da'."  On 
the  other  hand  it  is  a  positive  fact  that  the  Russian 
statesmen  want  the  good  will  of  the  American  people 
and  the  money  of  Jewish  financiers.  If  Messrs. 
Straus,  Schiff ,  Seligman  and  Kraus  in  their  conversa- 
tion and  Mr.  Wolf  in  his  letter  impressed  Mr.  Witte 
with  their  determination  to  organize  a  Russian  boycott 
among  the  great  financiers,  Russia  will  positively 
yield. 


THE    YEAR   5665  193 


Is  pressure  the  proper  thing  to  win  out  in  the  end? 
This  question  has  been  raised  in  the  case  of  Melvil 
Dewey,  the  state  librarian  at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  who  upon 
the  complaints  brought  by  Louis  Marshall,  Jacob  H. 
Schiff  and  others  was  reprimanded  and  will  be  re- 
moved from  office  for  his  anti-Semitic  principles 
expressed  in  the  management  of  the  summer  hotel 
at  Lake  Placid,  N.  Y.,  Without  touching  upon  the 
merits  of  this  case  which  hinges  on  the  question, 
whether  the  conduct  of  an  official  in  his  private  life, 
as  long  as  he  performs  his  duties  impartially,  should 
be  subject  to  such  severe  censure,  the  only  proper 
answer  was  the  one  given  by  Mr.  Marshall  to  Dr. 
Funk,  who  advised  the  Jews  from  their  own  interest 
to  be  as  quiet  as  possible.  This  medicine  has  been 
tried  long  enough,  Mr.  Marshall  said,  and  has  been 
found  ineffective.  The  letter  of  Dr.  Funk,  the  de- 
meanor of  Mr.  Dewey  and  more  so  the  obtrusive 
speeches  of  political  gangsters  before  Jewish  audiences 
about  the  exemplary  virtues  of  the  Jewish  citizen 
prove  how  far  distant  we  are  even  here  from  the  ideal 
which  we  have  been  dreaming  of  since  the  French 
revolution,  viz.,  that  the  Jew  should  be  considered 
merely  as  a  citizen,  regardless  of  his  religion  and  de- 
scent. 

France  herself  in  the  best  example  of  the  tardiness 
in  the  realization  of  ideals.  The  final  revision  of  the 
Dreyfus  trial  has  not  yet  taken  place,  for  it  seems  that 
even  the  present  anti-clerical  government  adheres  to 
the  principle  of  quieta  non  movere.  There  are  still  Jews 
in  prominent  public  positions,  and  one  of  their  number 
has  even  been  appointed  a  general  in  the  army,  but 


194  SCROLLS 

clerical  agitation  is  bound  to  reappear  when  the  party 
shall  have  recovered  from  the  shock  sustained  by  the 
separation  of  church  and  state,  and  when  the  radicals, 
now  in  power,  shall,  as  every  party  is  bound  to  do  at 
some  time,  have  compromised  themselves  through 
corruption  or  by  loss  of  prestige  in  foreign  relations. 
This  separation  of  church  and  state  means  also  a 
serious  internal  problem  for  French  Judaism.  The 
habit  of  relying  on  state  authority  for  nearly  a  cen- 
tury (since  1808)  and  on  financial  assistance  by  the 
state  (since  1831)  has  had  the  effect  of  weakening  the 
self-reliance  of  the  French  Jews,  and  perhaps  in  Algeria 
the  imported  French  rabbis  will  disappear  and  with 
them  their  civilizing  influence,  although  in  Tunis, 
which  under  the  so-called  French  protectorate  still 
preserves  the  ancient  laws,  the  Jews  are  only  too  eager 
to  obtain  the  status  of  French  citizens  and  to  be  freed 
from  the  rabbinical  tribunal. 

England,  so  long  the  haven  of  refuge  for  the  perse- 
cuted of  ail  countries,  found  her  patience  exhausted  by 
the  contemplation  of  a  continued  influx  of  Russian 
Jews.  The  new  alien  bill  has  been  introduced  by 
Balfour  upon  the  urgent  agitation  of  the  opposition 
and  has  become  a  law.  While  its  individual  features 
are  the  same  that  existed  in  America  for  years,  exclud- 
ing criminals,  diseased  persons  and  such  as  are  apt 
to  become  public  charges,  the  spirit  of  that  law  has 
been  aptly  characterized  by  Mr.  T.  Dundass  Pallans, 
who  said  it  was  a  British  edition  of  continental  anti- 
Semitism.  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  laws  can 
do  nothing  against  economic  conditions.  My  native 
province,  Moravia,  furnishes  the  best  illustration. 


THE    YEA  R   5665  105 

Up  to  1848  the  restriction  of  marriage  and  residence 
was  mercilessly  executed,  but  the  Jews  increased, 
while  now  they  have  decreased  in  spite  of  the  freedom, 
and  even  the  Jews  of  overpopulated  Galicia  do  not 
immigrate  there.  Similar  conditions  prevail  in  Bavar- 
ia, where  these  restrictions  were  in  force  up  to  1861 
On  the  other  hand,  the  best  law  can  not  operate  against 
ill-will.  The  Jews  of  Limerick,  Ireland,  are  still 
suffering  from  the  boycott  decreed  against  them  by 
Father  Creagh.  One-third  of  their  number  have  left 
the  place,  and  only  recently  their  minister  was  stoned 
by  a  few  boys  who  shouted:  "There  is  a  Jew  man, 
let's  kill  him?"  This  is  again  a  strong  proof  of  the 
great  practical  value  which  the  ethics  of  the  gospel 
possess  in  our  day.  That  Germany  should  continue 
the  policy  of  latent  anti-Semitism  is  not  surprising, 
as  long  as  England  almost  leads  the  way.  The  Prussian 
minister  of  justice  declared  in  the  diet  (January  30) 
quite  plainly  that  he  could  not  appoint  Jews  to  judge- 
ships  beyond  a  certain  limited  number,  while  the  min- 
ister of  war,  in  answering  the  charges  that  positions 
as  officers  are  closed  to  the  Jews,  denied  all  knowledge 
of  it,  and  when  a  certain  case  was  quoted  as  evidence, 
he  had  the  answer  ready  that  the  officers  of  the  par- 
ticular regiment  had  voted  against  this  applicant,  and 
that  he  had  no  right  to  inquire  into  their  reasons 
for  so  voting.  It  was  said  at  one  time  that  the  young 
Baron  von  Goldschmidt  Rothschild,  the  grandson  of 
Baron  Willy  von  Rothschild,  had  been  appointed  an 
imperial  page  in  order  to  open  to  him  the  exclusive 
circles  of  the  Herrn  von  Pudewitz  and  von  Strudewitz, 
but  the  report  was  not  confirmed.  The  debate  had. 


196  SCROLLS 

however,  one  good  effect.  The  anti-Semitic  leader, 
Herr  von  Liebermann,  was  forced  to  admit  in  public 
that  he  had  gratuitously  slandered  a  Jewish  veteran, 
Moses  Bier,  wrhom  General  von  Loe  had  called  an 
exemplary  soldier,  and  that  he  had  refused  to  do 
him  justice,  and  further,  that  another  veteran  had 
proved  to  him  that  he,  with  three  of  his  brothers, 
had  fought  in  the  wars  of  1864-71,  and  that  two 
of  them  had  been  decorated  for  valor  in  action. 

The  authorities,  however,  so  arrange  matters  that 
the  spirit  and  even  the  letter  of  the  law  are  deftly 
set  aside  where  the  Jew  is  concerned.  Count  Pueckler, 
the  demented  Anti-Semitic  agitator,  finally  was 
sentenced  to  six  months  in  jail  for  his  seditious 
speeches,  which  incite  the  masses  to  murder  and  pillage 
the  Jews,  but  the  sentence  will  never  be  carried  out; 
while  for  a  cavalry  charge  on  potato  diggers  on  a 
neighboring  farm,  which  resulted  in  so  frightening 
a  woman  that  she  was  confined  to  her  bed  for  four 
weeks,  the  Count  was  fined  a  few  hundred  marks. 
One  M.  Levy,  of  Frankfort,  however,  who  became 
mixed  up  in  a  scrap  with  the  Count  in  a  Berlin  hotel, 
was  mercilessly  sent  to  jail  for  three  months  (June 
2d.) 

Conditions  in  Austria  are  naturally  worse.  Here 
the  combined  powerful  reactionary  forces  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  clergy  and  the  titled  aristocracy  are 
aided  by  unscrupulous  demagogs  like  Lueger,  the 
mayor  of  Vienna,  and  by  the  scum  of  ward-heelers  like 
Schneider,  who  said  that  the  only  baptism  of  the 
Jews  in  which  he  believed  was  one  with  sulphuric 
acid  (October  12th).  Rowdyism  in  the  populace 


THE     YEA  R    566  5  197 

and  annoyances  like  the  prohibition  of  Shehitah  by 
the  Vienna  board  of  aldermen,  set  aside  by  the 
minister  as  illegal,  are  small  matters  compared  with 
the  grave  complications  which  may  arise  from  the 
fights  in  the  next  elections  to  the  Reichsrath,  in  which 
all  parties  seem  to  cater  to  the  anti-Jewish  vote. 
This  Shehitah  prohibition  has  become  a  humanitarian 
fad,  and  the  same  people  who  would  baptize  Jewish 
babies  with  sulphuric  acid  are  filled  with  compassion 
at  the  idea  of  an  ox  whose  agony  might  be  prolonged 
for  two  minutes.  In  Saxony  and  in  Switzerland 
Shehitah  has  been  prohibited  for  years.  In  Prussia 
the  law  compels  the  use  of  the  city  abattoir  whenever 
the. city  enacts  such  an  ordinance,  and  the  city  may 
declare  a  certain  mode  of  killing  animals  obligatory. 
So  in  Potsdam  Shehitah  has  been  prohibited,  and  the 
offer  of  the  Jewish  congregation  to  build  an  abattoir 
at  its  own  expense  was  refused.  Even  in  England 
such  an  attack  has  been  made  by  the  admiralty. 
It  is  interesting  to  watch  how  Shehitah  is  often  the 
cement  that  holds  congregations  together.  In  Lon- 
don the  Polish  Congregation  Machzike  Hadass  sepa- 
rated from  the  rest  of  the  congregation,  but  the 
United  Synagog,  being  stronger,  had  ordered  its 
Shochetim  to  kill  poultry  free  of  charge,  and  the 
Machzike  who  could  not  afford  it  had  to  come  to 
terms,  and  so  the  chickens  actually  served  as  a 
' ' Ka pporeh "  (atonement. ) 

While  thus  the  Russian  and  Polish  element  furn- 
ishes the  extremists  of  the  right  wing,  it  also  furnishes 
the  radical  free-thinkers.  Both  in  London  and  in  Leeds 
a  street  fight  broke  out  on  account  of  the  provocation 


198  SCROLLS 

of  the  observant  Jews  by  the  Socialists,  the  latter 
in  London  offering  free  meals  on  Yom  Kippur. 
Otherwise  liberalism  has  gained  a  victory  of  more 
than  local  import  in  the  elections  for  the  congrega- 
tional board  of  Berlin,  to  which  a  majority  of  liberals 
were  returned,  wyhile  at  the  last  elections  the  majority 
had  been  conservative.  The  cause  was  extraordinary 
at  the  last  election,  because  the  issue  then  was  the 
introduction  of  Sunday  services,  on  which  point  the 
conscience  of  the  Berlin  Jew  is  very  sensitive.  This, 
however,  does  not  prevent  the  conversion  to  Chris- 
tianity of  300  Berlin  Jews  every  year,  and  if  figures 
could  be  obtained  of  the  baptism  of  children  whose 
parents  remain  Jews  the  total  would  undoubtedly  be 
much  larger,  as  may  be  concluded  from  the  fact  that 
of  the  children  of  mixed  marriages,  not  one-half, 
but  only  one-fourth,  are  brought  up  as  Jews.  In 
Vienna,  conditions  are  still  worse,  and  the  number 
of  conversions  to  Christianity  reached  last  year  the 
shocking  figure  of  615.  Within  the  religious  camp 
there  is  a  great  deal  of  stagnation.  In  Tunis,  at  the 
dedication  of  a  new  synagog,  a  portion  of  the  Zohar 
is  recited,  just  as  in  the  sixteenth  century.  In 
Constantinople  the  Chacham  Bashi  opposes  the 
rabbinical  seminary  because  educated  rabbis  will 
be  heretics.  Neither  synod  nor  creed  nor  the  Sab- 
bath question  were  decided  by  the  last  convention 
of  the  Central  Conference  of  American  Rabbis,  for 
the  vote  in  favor  of  the  traditional  Sabbath  is,  after 
all,  an  empty  demonstration.  The  all-absorbing 
question  is  that  of  the  political  and  the  economic 
position  of  the  Jews,  and  in  this  respect  the  Seventh 


THE    YEA  R   5  6  6  5  109 


Zionist  Congress,  so  well  attended  from  the  stand- 
point of  quality  as  of  quantity,  is  a  striking  evidence. 
The  split  which  divided  the  Zion's  Zionists  from  the 
Territorialists  is  a  serious  matter,  because  it  is  not 
proven  that  the  former  can  do  more  than  the  old 
lovers  of  Zion,  who  in  twenty-odd  years  have  suc- 
ceeded in  settling  about  5,000  colonists  in  Palestine 
who  still  draw  considerable  sums  annually  from 
Uncle  Rothschild,  and  the  latter  will  have  to  prove 
that  they  can  do  better  than  Baron  Hirsch  has  done 
in  Argentine — not  somewhat  better,  but  so  that  the 
"Judenelend"  should  disappear  within  some  reasonable 
time. 

The  matter  is  so  serious  that  every  proposition 
must  be  given  its  opportunity.  It  view  of  the 
critical  position  of  the  masses  it  is  encouraging  to 
see  that  in  every  civilized  country  individual  Jews 
have  attained  high  eminence.  Prof.  Hollander,  of 
Baltimore,  has  been  appointed  special  commissioner 
for  San  Domingo,  E.  K.  von  Raalte  has  been  ap- 
pointed minister  of  justice  in  Holland,  Matthew  L. 
Moss  minister  without  portfolio  in  Western  Australia, 
M.  Levay  was  made  peer  of  Hungary,  M.  Neumann 
of  Austria,  two  Jewish  senators  were  added  to  the 
Italian  house  of  lords,  the  baronetcy  was  conferred 
on  Mr.  Herbert  Stern  and  the  knighthood  on  Mr. 
Isidore  Spielmann,  Mr.  James  Simon  and  Mr.  Albert 
Ballin  (two  of  the  kaiser's  favorites)  were  decorated 
with  high  orders;  Auckland  and  Palmerston,  in  New 
Zealand,  as  well  as  Cape  Town,  have  Jewish  mayors, 
and  Johannesburg,  where  the  Jews  up  to  three  years 
ago  were  aliens,  has  Jewish  councilmen,  the  university 


200  SCROLLS 

of  Czernowitz  has  a  Jew  as  its  rector  magnificus,  and 
this  list  is  by  no  means  complete,  nor  could  it  be 
without  becoming  a  dry  catalog  of  names  and  dates. 

The  large  necrology  of  this  year  is  also  a  proof  of 
the  vast  amount  of  civic  and  intellectual  labor  per- 
formed by  the  Jews,  even  if  we  limit  ourselves  to  the 
most  important  names.  In  communal  workers  we 
lost  Haim  Guedalla,  of  London,  the  champion  of  the 
repatriation  of  the  Spanish  Jews  (October  2d) ; 
Lazar  Brodsky,  the  philanthropist  of  Kiew  (Septem- 
ber 28th);  Willy  Bambus,  the  devoted  Zionist  (No- 
vember 4th  at  Berlin) ;  Frederick  David  Mocatta,  of 
London,  philanthropist,  and  Maecenas,  a  man 
doubly  valuable  as  a  proof  of  the  vitality  of  the 
Reform  element  (January  16th);  Moritz  Simon,  of 
Hanover,  the  indefatigable  worker  for  the  spreading 
of  agriculture  among  the  Jews  (January  29th;)  Meyer 
Guggenheim,  of  New  York  (March  16th);  Alphonse 
de  Rothschild,  of  Paris  (May  26th),  and  Nathaniel  de 
Rothschild,  of  Vienna  (June  12th),  all  of  whom  made 
noble  use  of  princely  fortunes,  and  Moses  A.  Dropsie, 
of  Philadelphia  (July  8th),  who  has  made  the  greatest 
bequest  known  in  history  for  the  cause  of  Jewish 
learning. 

Of  men  prominent  in  public  life  we  lost  General 
Giuseppe  Ottolenghi  (November  2d),  at  one  time 
Italian  minister  of  war;  Edwin  Einstein,  former  con- 
gressman of  New  York  (January  24th) ;  Sir  Benjamin 
Benjamin  (March  7th),  at  one  time  mayor  of  Mel- 
bourne and  member  of  the  legislature;  Camille 
Dreyfus  (April  1st),  once  Frcncy  deputy;  Moritz 
Elstaetter  (June  14th),  who  was  for  25  years  minister 


THE     YEA  K    5  665  201 

of  finance  in  Baden,  the  only  Jew  who  held  such  an 
office  in  Germany;  Max  Hirsch  (June  26th),  German 
parliamentarian  and  noted  political  economist,  and 
Tullo  Massarani  (August  4th),  Italian  senator. 

Of  scientific  celebrities  we  lost  the  historian, 
Jacob  Caro,  of  Breslau  (December  12th),  son  of  a 
Polish  rabbi;  Emil  Szanto,  the  philologist,  of  Vienna 
(December  14th);  Ignatius  X.  Baxt,  of  St.  Peters- 
burg (December  26th),  a  noted  physiologist  who  re- 
mained true  to  Judaism  under  the  trying  conditions 
of  Russian  life;  the  botanist,  Leo  Errerra,  of  Brussels 
(August  1),  and  the  Assyriologist,  Jules  Oppert 
(August  20)  were  also  devoted  to  the  cause  of  Judaism. 
Finally  we  mention  the  workers  for  the  spiritual  cause 
of  Israel  the  ghetto  novelist,  Solomon  Kohn  (Nov- 
ember 6th),  of  Prague;  Elide  Lolli,  of  Padua,  a 
relic  of  Luzzatto's  time  (December  15th);  Hayim 
Hezekiah  Medini,  of  Hebron  (December  2d),  the 
most  prolific  rabbinical  author  of  our  time;  Kasriel 
H.  Sarason,  of  New  York  (January  12th),  the  founder 
of  Yiddish  journalism  in  America;  E.  A.  Astruc, 
formerly  rabbi  of  Brussels  (February  23d);  E.  I). 
Rabinovitz-Tumim,  the  coadjutor  of  the  German 
chief  rabbi  of  Jerusalem  (February  8th),  who  is 
survived  by  the  nonogenarian  whom  he  was  to 
succeed;  Meyer  Kayserling,  the  historian,  of  Buda- 
pest (April  21st);  the  celebrated  historian  of  the 
Talmud,  Isaac  H.  Weiss,  of  Vienna  (May  3()th).  and 
Joseph  Ezekiel,  of  Bombay  (July  1st),  the  spiritual 
chief  of  the  Beni  Israel  community.  In  this  con- 
nection we  must  mention  the  seventh  centenary  of 
the  death  of  Maimonides,  and  the  eighth  centenary 


202  SCROLLS 

of  the  death  of  Rashi,  the  first  centenary  of  the  death 
of  Napthali  Herz  Wesel,  the  Hebrew  poet  and  worker 
for  spiritual  emancipation,  the  first  centenary  of  the 
birth  of  Lord  Beaconsfield,  who,  although  a  convert 
to  Christianity,  is  an  example  of  Jewish  self-respect, 
and,  finally,  the  semi-centenary  of  the  Breslau 
seminary,  all  of  which  impress  us  with  the  greatness 
of  Israel's  history;  and  when  we  think  especially  of 
Rashi,  whose  works  eight  hundred  years  after  his 
death  are  still  text  books  for  thousands  and  thousands, 
we  feel  that  an  institution  which  has  outlived  so 
many  centuries,  and  overcome  such  vicissitudes,  will 
have  many,  many  new  years  to  add  to  its  glorious 
past. 


THE  YEAR  5666.* 

THE  BLOODIEST  days  in  Jewish  history  have  a 
sequel  in  the  terrifying  experiences  of  the 
Russian  Jews  during  the  past  year.  Had  all  lovers 
of  humanity  believed  that  the  Kishineff  of  1903  was 
the  climax  of  the  provocation  which  a  doomed  des- 
potism would  dare  to  offer  to  civilized  humanity,  this 
year  disappointed  them  in  their  optimism.  On 
October  30  the  announcement  of  a  parliamentary 
form  of  government  was  made,  and  on  the  following 
day  the  so-called  Black  Hundred,  encouraged  and 
assisted  by  both  civil  and  military  authorities,  began 
a  regular  slaughter  of  the  Jews,  especially  in  the 
Southern  part  of  the  empire.  Over  two  hundred 
places  were  affected,  thousands  were  killed,  tens  of 
thousands  maimed,  and  hundreds  of  thousands 
reduced  to  misery.  The  civilized  world  was  seized 
with  horror.  Various  parliaments,  such  as  the 
Congress  of  America,  and  the  parliaments  of  Hungary, 
England  and  Austria,  passed  resolutions  of  sympathy 
with  the  victims  and  of  condemnation  of  the  outrages. 
Charity  showed  itself  in  its  noblest  form,  even  in 
benevolent  Christians  like  Mr.  Carnegie,  and  in 
clergymen  like  the  Bishops  of  Bamberg  and  Cologne, 
but  naturally  the  misery  could  not  be  properly 
alleviated.  Its  cause  lies  deeper  and  with  genuine 
horror  do  we  apprehend  further  acts  of  barbarism, 
such  as  were  witnessed  in  the  days  of  Homel,  on 
January  21;  Bialystok,  June  14,  and  Siedlce,  Sep- 
*Thc  American  Israelite,  September  20,  1906. 


204  SCROLLS 

tember  8,  and  which  may  be  instigated  at  any  time 
by  the  desperate  Cossack  government  and  its  sym- 
pathizers in  order  to  maintain  an  unrestricted  auto- 
cracy. 

Another  sore  spot  on  the  body  of  Israel  is  the  con- 
dition in  Morocco,  although  by  no  means  as  grave  as 
that  in  Russia.  A  conference  of  the  powers  held  last 
spring  in  Algeciras  discussed  the  means  of  establishing 
order  in  this  mediaeval  country.  Mr.  White,  the 
representative  of  America,  supported  by  Duke 
Almadovar  del  Rios,  the  representative  of  Spain, 
and  Marquis  Visconti  Venosti,  the  representative  of 
Italy,  introduced  a  resolution  that  the  Jews  should 
be  effectively  protected  by  his  Sherifian  Majesty. 
This  resolution  will  read  well  in  the  proceedings  of 
the  conference,  while  his  majesty,  even  if  he  did 
take  a  genuine  interest  in  the  cause  of  the  Jews, 
could  hardly  do  justice  to  the  wishes  of  Mr.  White, 
inasmuch  as  he  has  his  hands  full  in  fighting  the 
pretender,  Bu  Hamara,  who  has  been  utterly  routed 
any  number  of  times  in  the  cable  dispatches,  but 
who  is  still  holding  his  own. 

The  precarious  health  of  the  Shah  of  Persia  and 
of  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  is  also  a  matter  of  great  con- 
cern to  the  Jews.  In  countries  where  everything 
depends  on  the  whim  of  the  ruler  and  where  his 
death  is  apt  to  plunge  the  country  into  complete 
anarchy,  nobody  can  tell  what  may  happen  in  the 
event  of  the  death  of  either  of  these  two  rulers. 

The  grave  concern  which  the  acts  in  Russia  and 
the  conditions  in  the  other  countries  mentioned 
signify  for  the  Jews,  overshadows  all  minor  difficulties. 


THE     YEA  R    5  666 


Roumania,  for  a  long  time  a  serious  problem  for  the 
Jews,  has  now  grown  uninteresting.  A  so-called 
liberal  ministry  has  succeeded  the  conservative 
body,  but  to  the  Jews  this  is  of  no  consequence. 
It  is  merely  a  question  which  of  the  two  packs  of 
wolves  will  prey  on  the  treasury,  and  ingratiate 
themselves  with  the  masses  by  harrassing  the  Jews. 
Still,  it  is  worthy  of  mention  that  Brociner,  the  ad- 
ministrator of  the  king's  treasury,  has  been  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  lieutenant  colonel. 

More  serious  seems  to  be  the  condition  in  Bulgaria. 
This  principality  appears  to  be  the  storm  center  on 
the  European  horizon.  At  present  Greeks  and  Slavs 
are  fighting  there  and  at  any  moment  their  troubles 
may  cause  a  crisis  in  European  politics.  Under 
such  conditions  the  Jews  are  apt  to  suffer,  especially 
as  occasional  accusations  of  ritual  murder  and  the 
unpunished  kidnapping  of  Jewish  girls  for  the  sake 
of  baptizing  them,  justify  grave  apprehensions  in 
case  internal  troubles  should  precipitate  disaster. 

Egypt,  while  under  English  control,  is  still  con- 
siderably oriental  and  an  attack  on  the  Jews  by  the 
mob,  on  the  occasion  of  a  pilgrimage  to  Damanhur, 
while  not  very  serious  in  its  consequences  and 
suppressed  promptly,  shows  that  even  there,  with  two 
hostile  factions,  the  Greek  Catholic  and  the  Moham- 
medan, conditions  are  not  quite  satisfactory. 

Turning  to  the  countries  where  civic  and  political 
equality  are  granted  to  the  Jews,  we  must  first 
mention  the  250th  anniversary  of  the  settlement  of 
the  Jews  in  America,  which  was  coincident  with  a 
similar  celebration  in  England.  In  both  countries 
the  history  of  the  Jews  shows  a  constant  advance 


206  SCROLLS 

in  importance  and  attainments.  In  America  we 
must  mention  the  various  strong  expressions  of  con- 
demnation of  the  Russian  autocracy  in  Congress 
by  Mr.  Sulzer,  December  11,  Mr.  Towne,  February 
12,  and  Mr.  MacDermott,  April  11.  It  is  also  very 
gratifying  to  know  that  the  restriction  on  immigration, 
which  would  have  proved  particularly  hard  for  the 
Russian  Jews,  was  defeated  by  the  efforts  of  Speaker 
Cannon,  June  25.  The  appointments  and  election 
of  Jews  to  prominent  offices  are  too  numerous  to  be 
mentioned. 

England,  the  land  of  freedom,  has  finally  adopted 
a  law  restricting  immigration.  It  went  into  effect 
January  1st,  and  while  not  very  rigorously  enforced, 
it  still  entails  hardship  on  unfortunate  fugitives 
from  lands  of  unbearable  tyranny.  The  present 
liberal  ministry  inherited  this  legislation  from  its 
conservative  predecessor,  and  therefore  can  disclaim 
all  responsibility.  There  are,  however,  among  the 
people,  very  serious  indications  of  anti-semitic  feeling, 
and  in  Limerick,  Ireland,  where  a  Catholic  priest 
two  years  ago  organized  a  boycott  against  the  Jews, 
conditions  have  not  improved.  The  mayor's  court 
still  refuses  to  entertain  any  claim  of  a  Jewish  mer- 
chant against  a  Christian  debtor.  Occasional  at- 
tacks in  English  periodical  literature,  as  well  as  in 
books,  are  also  matters  which  can  not  be  viewed 
with  absolute  indifference.  It  is  certainly  quite 
grievous  when  a  radical  like  Mr.  Labouchere  makes 
his  paper  the  mouthpiece  of  aspersions  on  the  Jews. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  con- 
ditions in  general  are  rather  satisfactory  than  other- 
wise. The  government  of  the  Cape  Colony  has 


THE    YEA  R   5666  2C7 

finally  declared  that  Yiddish  shall  be  considered  a 
European  language,  so  that  Jewish  immigrants  who 
can  read  and  write  that  language  will  not  suffer  from 
the  restrictions  of  the  educational  test.  It  is  further 
a  matter  of  pride  to  record  that  at  the  last  parlia- 
mentary election  sixteen  Jews  were  returned,  of 
whom  twelve  are  liberals.  This  is  the  largest  number 
of  Jews  ever  sitting  in  the  English  Parliament  and 
is  quite  an  achievement  in  view  of  the  fact  that  it  is 
only  forty-eight  years  since  Jews  were  admitted  to 
the  body.  Individual  honors  are  also  to  be  men- 
tioned with  satisfaction.  Sir  Herbert  Stern  has  been 
raised  to  the  peerage,  he  being  the  fourth  Jew  to 
enjoy  that  proud  distinction.  Mr.  Benjamin  S. 
Cohen  and  Mr.  Edward  Speyer  have  been  raised  to 
the  baronetcy.  Mr.  William  Segal  has  been  elected 
mayor  of  Kimberley,  and  Israel  Gollancz  and  Charles 
Meyers  were  appointed  professors  in  London  Uni- 
versity. 

Holland,  where  Jewish  affairs  are  running  quite 
smoothly,  has  a  new  member  of  parliament,  Mr. 
S.  van  der  Bergh,  whose  brother  already  is  a  member 
of  that  body. 

From  Italy  we  are  not  accustomed  to  hear  anything 
exciting.  The  present  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is 
filling  that  post  for  the  sixth  time.  He  has  received 
great  distinction  through  a  decoration  which  the 
Kaiser  has  bestowed  on  him.  Signor  Alessandro 
d'Ancona,  a  well  known  politician  and  scholar,  has 
been  elected  mayor  of  Pisa.  Louis  Philippson,  of 
Hamburg,  was  called  to  the  chair  of  dermatology  at 
the  I'niversity  of  Palermo.  It  is  interesting  to 
observe  in  this  connection  that  since  the  expulsion 


208  SCROLLS 

of  the  Jews  from  Sicily  no  congregation  has  been 
formed  there,  and  the  only  Jews  living  in  that  country 
are  government  officials.  It  is  hard  to  say  whether, 
if  the  present  Pope  permits  the  Catholics  to  participate 
in  elections,  as  he  seems  inclined  to  do,  antisemitism 
will  not  appear  in  Italy.  In  a  small  way  it  does 
creep  up  occasionally,  as  was  the  case  this  year  at 
the  municipal  election  of  Monticello  d'Ondigno. 

France  has  made  decided  progress  by  the  promul- 
gation of  the  law  declaring  the  separation  of  State 
and  Church,  December  9,  and  the  expectations  of  the 
clerical  party  that  the  government  would  be  defeated 
in  the  parliamentary  elections  were  not  realized. 
The  policy,  inaugurated  by  M.  Combes,  evidently 
has  won  the  approval  of  the  people.  It  took  the 
Pope  fully  eight  months  to  come  out  with  a  con- 
demnation of  that  law,  in  his  Encyclical  "Gravissimi 
Officii"  of  August  10th.  The  effect  of  this  condition 
on  the  status  of  the  Jews  is  certainly  noticeable  in 
the  final  vindication  of  Captain  Dreyfus,  July  12, 
who  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major  and  decorated 
with  the  Legion  of  Honor,  July  21.  At  the  parlia- 
mentary elections  four  Jews  wrere  returned,  among 
them,  Joseph  Reinach,  who  had  lost  his  seat  on 
account  of  his  advocacy  of  Dreyfus'  innocence. 
Of  the  numerous  appointments  of  Jews  to  prominent 
places,  special  mention  may  be  made  of  that  of  Col. 
Francfort  to  the  rank  of  general,  and  of  the  appoint- 
ment of  Gen.  Naquet-Laroque,  as  inspector  of  the 
entire  coast  defense. 

In  Germany  Jews  have  enjoyed  full  political 
equality  since  1869;  still  the  theory  is  not  sincerely 
put  into  practice.  The  government  and  its  sup- 


THE    YEA  R   5666  209 

porters  in  the  conservative  ranks  consider  it  their 
duty  to  keep  the  Jews  out  of  official  positions.  Their 
sentiments  are  indicated  in  a  speech  made  by  Herr 
von  Richthofen  in  the  Reichstag,  March  15,  when 
he  defended  the  educational  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment in  the  African  Colonies.  Herr  von  Richthofen 
said  that  the  presence  of  Mohammedans  in  the 
African  schools  was  no  less  reprehensible  than  the 
presence  of  Jews  in  the  mother  country.  It  is  not 
much  to  be  proud  of  when  a  fair-minded  conservative 
politician  like  Herr  von  Kardorff  talks  of  the  possi- 
bility of  anti-Jewish  riots  in  Germany  similar  to 
those  of  Russia.  Nor  is  the  administration  of  justice 
in  the  courts  always  free  from  anti-Semitic  bias. 
The  statement  by  a  judge  in  open  court  that  pre- 
nuptial  relations  between  a  Jew  and  a  Christian 
woman  are  a  proof  of  the  insanity  of  the  latter, 
shows  that  a  hymn  on  "Koschere  Justiz,"  composed 
by  a  judge  in  Breslau  and  sung  by  a  "society  of 
Christian  judges,"  is  more  than  a  convivial  joke. 
Clearer  proof  of  antisemitic  inclinations  are  the 
cruel  expulsions  of  self-supporting  Russian  Jews 
from  Prussia,  and  the  school  law  which  reduces  the 
Jewish  children  to  a  condition  which  can  only  be 
characterized  as  toleration. 

In  Bavaria,  where  the  clericals  form  the  majority 
in  the  Diet,  agitation  against  the  appointment  of 
Jews  as  judges  and  army  officers  is  frequently  ex- 
pressed in  the  language  of  the  beer-saloon  crowd. 
The  prohibition  of  Shehitah  in  various  communities 
undoubtedly  shows  a  desire  to  annoy  the  Jewish 
citizens.  What  antisemitic  agitators  may  do  with 
impunity  is  illustrated  by  the  crazy  Count  Pueckler 


210  SCROLLS 

and  the  ex-pastor  Kroesell.  The  former,  who  calls 
occasionally  on  the  blacksmiths  of  Berlin  to  imitate 
the  Black  Hundred  of  Russia,  is  sentenced  to  prison 
for  his  incendiary  speeches.  His  sentence  is  com- 
muted to  detention  in  a  fortress  and  he  is  paroled 
on  account  of  important  business,  which  leave  of 
absence  he  utilizes  to  continue  his  speech-making  in 
Berlin.  Pastor  Kroesell  published  in  his  sheet  a 
story  that  the  rabbi  of  Breslau  sent  by  express  to 
the  rabbi  of  Bromberg  a  Christian  boy,  bound, 
gagged,  and  chloroformed.  There  is  no  way  of 
making  the  courts  act  in  such  cases  as  promptly  as 
they  do  in  any  case  of  Lese  Majesty,  or  in  any  al- 
leged insult  to  the  army  or  the  government.  Still, 
some  individual  occurences  may  be  chronicled  with 
satisfaction.  Two  Jews  were  elected  to  the  Diet  of 
Baden,  and  one  to  each  of  the  diets  of  Prussia  and 
Hesse.  Twojews  were  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Ober- 
landes  gerichsrat  in  Prussia.  For  the  first  time  in  his- 
tory a  Jew  has  been  appointed  Landgerichtsrat  in  Wiir- 
temberg.  Mr.  Eugene  Fuchs  was  made  a  member 
of  the  board  of  examiners  of  judges.  Professor 
Heinrich  Silbergleit  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
bureau  of  statistics  in  Berlin,  and  Alfred  Philippson 
was  made  professor  of  history  in  Halle. 

Conditions  in  Austria  have  remained  unchanged. 
The  agitation  for  the  extension  of  the  franchise  to 
the  Reichstag  resulted  in  attacks  on  Jews.  In 
Galicia  the  clergy  declared  the  Jews  to  be  enemies 
of  the  Poles  for  their  advocacy  of  a  liberal  law. 
Burgomaster  Lueger  even  went  so  far  as  to  indicate 
in  an  address  the  possibility  that  the  massacres  Of 
Odessa  might  be  repeated  in  the  Austrian  capital 


THE     YEA  R    5  6  66  211 

while  his  followers  shamed  the  country  and  the 
civilization  of  the  twentieth  century  by  using  the 
vilest  language  against  the  Jews.  It  is  really  comical 
when  one  of  them  says  that  religious  toleration  has 
gone  too  far  in  Austria.  Some  noble  minded  people 
have  made  attempts  to  vindicate  poor  Hilsner,  who 
has  been  in  prison  for  seven  years  for  a  supposed 
ritual  murder,  of  which  he  is  entirely  innocent. 
The  antisemites  at  once  raised  the  cry  of  a  Jewish 
syndicate  and  have  succeeded  in  cowing  the  govern- 
ment. On  the  Jewish  side  theseconditions  havecreated 
some  ridiculous  demands,  like  that  of  a  national 
Jewish  autonomy. 

Hungary  has  passed  through  a  severe  crisis  and 
the  new  ministry  is  uniting  the  various  political 
parties,  who  are  in  favor  of  Hungarian  independence, 
and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  clericals  are  repre- 
sented by  two  members  in  the  new  cabinet,  the 
Austrian  antisemites  always  speak  of  the  Judaeo- 
Magyar  alliance.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  to  be 
recorded  with  satisfaction  that  the  new  parliament 
contains  twenty-three  Jewish  members,  the  highest 
number  ever  found  in  any  parliament.  The  difti- 
rulties  created  for  Austria  by  the  affiliation  with 
Hungary  are,  to  some  extent,  duplicated  in  the 
relations  between  Hungary  and  Croatia.  In  the 
latter  country,  where  Jews  are  not  very  numerous, 
antisemitic  sentiment  seems  to  be  growing  and  for 
the  first  time  in  manv  vears  the  Croatian  parliament 
has  no  Jewish  member,  the  only  candidate  for  election 
having  been  defeated. 

The  difficulties  in  Russia  have  resulted  in  great 
interest  in  the  plans  for  colonization.  The  Zionists 


212  SCROLLS 

have,  so  it  seems,  given  up  their  former  aversion 
to  colonization  without  charter.  The  orthodox  of 
Austria  and  Hungary  have  formed  a  society,  Schlaum 
Hoir,  for  the  advancement  of  the  interests  of  the 
orthodox  colonists.  Somewhat  original  is  the  scheme 
for  colonizing  an  island  in  the  Parana  River,  in 
Paraguay,  which  savors  somewhat  humorously  of 
Mordecai  M.  Noah's  "state"  on  Great  Island  in  the 
Niagara  River.  Of  more  tangible  value  is  the 
endorsement  of  the  Ito  by  Lord  Selborne  and  other 
prominent  Jews  and  non-Jews.  In  this  connection 
the  attempt  of  regaining  the  Falashas,  in  Abyssinia, 
may  be  mentioned.  The  beginnings  of  this  mission 
work  are  small,  but  at  least  two  young  men  are  being 
educated  in  the  Alliance  School  at  Paris.  The  reform 
community  in  Paris  has  not  yet  materialized  and  the 
Mekize  Nirdamim  Society  for  the  publication  of  old 
Hebrew  works  had  to  be  abandoned. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  point  with  proud  satisfac- 
tion to  the  numerous  philanthropic  activities  by  men 
in  the  Jewish  fold,  but  to  mention  all  the  important 
donations  would  be  impossible.  Merely  as  specimens 
of  their  distribution  and  their  catholicity,  we  record 
a  donation  of  $50,000,  by  Mr.  James  S.  Speyer,  of 
New  York,  for  an  American  chair  in  the  University 
of  Berlin;  of  3,000,000  Marks  by  Julius  Schottlaender, 
of  Breslau,  for  various  charitable  purposes;  of  2,000,- 
000  Francs  by  M.  Raphael  Bishoffsheim,  of  Paris, 
for  educational  purposes;  of  500,000  Marks  by  Mr. 
Herschel  of  Mannheim,  for  a  public  bath;  of  500,000 
Crowns  by  Mr.  Philipp  Hertz,  of  Lipto  Szt.  Miklos, 
a  man  who  was  certainly  not  as  wealthy  as  Russell 
Sage,  of  New  York. 


JUDAISM   IX  5668.* 

REVIEWING  the  history  of  this  year  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  events  in  Judaism,  makes 
one  feel  what  Isaiah  must  have  felt  when  he  said  that 
"it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day  that  the  glory  of 
Jacob  shall  be  made  thin."  With  deep  humiliation 
must  we  admit  how  little  our  great  grandfathers  could 
have  believed  in  the  realization  of  such  a  prophecy 
when  the  French  Revolution  first  emancipated  the 
Jews. 

Fortunately  we  the  citizens  of  the  free  republic  of 
the  United  States  enjoy  the  liberty  to  worship  God 
according  to  the  dictates  of  our  conscience.  Still  we 
can  not  enjoy  the  satisfaction  that  this  theory,  laid 
down  by  the  fathers  of  this  country,  is  a  reality  in  the 
minds  of  the  vast  majority  of  our  non-Jewish  fellow- 
citizens  when  it  is  a  question  of  applying  it  to  the 
Jews.  Scarcely  a  week  passes  without  some  symptoms 
of  anti-Jewish  feeling  coming  to  our  notice  in  the 
newspapers,  in  addresses  by  prominent  people,  in 
utterances  of  officials,  or  of  men  of  prominent  social 
standing,  and  finally  in  acts  of  social  snobbery.  What 
an  amount  of  ugly  comment  has  been  passed  on  the 
action  of  certain  Jews  in  New  York,  who  desired  to  do 
away  with  the  sectarian  character  of  the  Christmas 
celebration  in  public  schools!  Loudest  of  all  were 
naturally  the  Protestant  ministers  and  the  organiza- 
tions who  hide  their  un-American  tendencies  under 
the  mask  of  patriotism,  some  of  whom  protested 
The  American  Israelite,  September  24,  1908. 


214  SCROLLS 

against  what  they  called  the  "Hebrew  dictating  to  us 
in  our  public  schools."  Even  the  Catholics,  who 
bitterly  oppose  the  reading  of  the  Bible  and  the  so- 
called  non-sectarian  religious  exercises  in  the  public 
schools,  felt  on  this  occasion  the  necessity  of  "ad- 
monishing our  people  to  watch  the  Jew." 

Another  outbreak  of  antisemitic  feelings  is  the 
constantly  repeated  charge  of  criminality  against  the 
Jews.  Mr.  William  H.  Corbin,  in  an  address  before 
the  Chenango  County  Society  of  New  York,  spoke  of 
the  Jews  in  almost  Russian  fashion  as  "crowding  the 
schools  and  high  schools,  ready  to  work  at  the  most 
menial  tasks  with  inherited  sense  of  want  and  neces- 
sity but  with  low  ideals  and  practice."  This  address 
was  ably  refuted  by  Louis  Marshall,  but  unfortu- 
nately we  are  not  optimistic  enough  to  believe  that 
such  refutations,  strong  as  they  are,  strike  home  where 
they  ought  to.  The  terrible  conflagration  at  Chelsea, 
Mass.,  gave  opportunity  for  a  minister  of  the  gospel 
to  charge  the  Jews  with  responsibility  for  this  fire, 
although  it  has  never  been  proven  up  to  this  day  that 
it  was  of  incendiary  origin  nor  that  a  Jew  was  re- 
sponsible for  it,  while  it  is  beyond  doubt  that  the  vast 
majority  of  the  Jewish  inhabitants  of  Chelsea  were 
heavy  losers  in  this  calamity.  The  attempt  on  the 
life  of  the  Chicago  chief  of  police  by  Lazarus  Auerbach, 
a  young  Russian  Jew,  wras  another  signal  for  the  out- 
cry against  the  Russian  Jew  as  a  habitual  criminal 
and  especially  as  an  enemy  of  social  order  and  in- 
directly against  the  Jew  as  a  citizen.  The  facts  in 
the  case  were  best  characterized  by  that  noble  hu- 
manitarian, Jane  Addams,  when  she  said:  "The  old 


J  U  DA  ISM   IX   5668  215 


antiseniitic  feeling  held  sway,  encouraged  and  sus- 
tained by  the  sense  that  to  indulge  in  it  was  to  put 
down  anarchy."  The  unfortunate  boy's  lips,  which 
alone  could  have  testified  in  his  own  behalf,  are 
closed,  but  the  feeling  will  not  be  quieted  that  he  was 
a  victim  of  either  cunning  or  of  a  misunderstanding. 
Vet  the  feeling  against  the  Jew  as  an  anarchist  has 
again  been  aroused  by  the  terrible  crime  of  Spring- 
field, 111.  In  the  home  of  Lincoln,  negroes  were 
killed,  robbed  and  hounded  out  of  the  city.  It  took 
a  large  mob  to  do  this  dastardly  work,  which  is  a 
disgrace  to  American  civilization.  But  again  here 
the  Jew  seems  to  be  picked  out  for  a  scapegoat. 
The  chief  of  police  claims  that  Abraham  Raymer,  a 
Russian  boy,  was  one  of  the  ring  leaders.  At  this 
moment  it  is  impossible  to  say  whether  or  not  the 
charge  is  based  on  fact,  but  one  thing  is  certain  that 
the  statement  of  the  chief  of  police  that  the  trouble 
was  due  to  "green  foreigners"  is  intended  to  shield 
the  American  element  of  the  population,  while,  if 
anything,  negro  lynching  is  certainly  a  genuine  Ameri- 
can product. 

Compared  with  this  it  seems  small  to  point  to  the 
constantly  repeated  insults  to  respectable  Jews,  found 
in  such  advertisements  as  that  of  a  summer  resort 
which  announced,  "No  Hebrews  or  people  with  pul- 
monary troubles  entertained,"  or  of  the  'Tatskill 
Evening  Line,"  that  "Dogs  and  Jews  are  not  ad- 
mitted" to  some  of  the  hotels  in  the  mountains.  Nor 
would  it  seem  of  much  consequence  when  in  an 
aristocratic  apartment  house  in  New  York,  owned 
by  William  Waldorf  Astor,  "Jews  are  not  accepted  as 


216  SCROLLS 

tenants."  In  this  particular  case  it  would  appear 
as  if  the  indignation  of  the  Jews  was  directed  to  the 
wrong  address.  It  is  certainly  a  matter  of  complete 
indifference  to  Mr.  Astor  who  pays  him  interest  on  his 
investments,  so  long  as  this  investment  is  profitable. 
He  lives  in  England  and  the  American  dollar  coming 
from  a  Jew  has  as  little  odor  to  him  as  a  denar  derived 
from  the  sewer  tax  had  to  Vespasian,  the  inventor 
of  the  first  "Jew  tax."  The  rule  adopted  by  the 
administrator  of  the  Astor  real  estate  can  only  tell 
against  a  certain  class  of  high-toned  American 
citizens.  Nor  would  the  remarks  of  J.  C.  Van  Dyke 
who  accuses  the  Jews  of  "commercializing  law  and 
medicine"  and  thus  places  himself  on  one  level  with 
his  colleagues  in  the  universities  of  Germany  of  the 
type  of  Treitschke  and  de  Lagarde,  mean  very  much. 
It  is  very  serious,  however,  when  a  man  in  the  position 
o  f  the  New  York  commissioner  of  police  or  when  a 
judge  on  the  bench,  like  Judge  Dike  in  Brooklyn 
makes  a  statement  to  the  effect  that  two-thirds  of  the 
law-breakers  are  Jews.  (1)  Neither  of  these  gentle- 
men has  in  any  way  given  us  information  of  how  he 
arrived  at  such  statistics,  inasmuch  as  the  police 
entries  do  not  specify  the  religion  of  the  people 
arrested  or  convicted,  nor  has  he  proven  that  such 
misdemeanors  as  the  killing  of  a  chicken  on. Sunday, 
for  which  a  New  York  Shochet  was  recently  arrested, 
are  excluded  and  separately  accounted.  In  countries 
where  there  are  available  exact  statistics  of  the  re- 
ligion of  criminals,  like  Austria  and  Germany,  such 
figures  have  always  proven  that  the  Jew  makes  a 
rather  favorable  showing  in  the  criminal  statistics 


J  L'  DA  ISM   IN  5  668  217 

and  that  at  all  events  he  is  not  worse  than  others  of 
his  class,  occupation,  and  education.  It  is  highly  im- 
probable that  the  Jew  of  America  should  in  this  respect 
differ  from  his  co-religionists  in  other  countries. 

The  only  political  question  in  American  Jewish 
affairs,  is  the  old  question  of  the  passports  of  American 
citizens  of  the  Jewish  persuasion.  The  American 
government  has  in  this  respect  always  been  yielding 
to  an  injustice  done  to  her  citizens  by  Russia.  Al- 
though both  great  parties  have  in  their  last  platforms 
declared  themselves  in  favor  of  the  only  logical  in- 
terpretation of  treaty  rights  which  demand  that  all 
American  citizens  shall  be  treated  equally,  Russia 
continues  to  disregard  the  rights  of  American  Jewish 
citizens.  Three  years  ago  the  writer  of  this  review 
had  such  an  experience.  Assistant  Secretary  of 
State  Alvey  A.  Adee  at  that  time  said  that  negotia- 
tions were  in  progress  which  would  settle  the  question 
but  these  negotiations  have  not  only  not  led  to  any 
satisfactory  result,  but  our  department  of  state  even 
went  so  far  as  to  issue  a  circular  in  which  it  was 
stated  that  former  Russian  sujects  and  Jews  can  not 
enter  Russia  without  special  permission  from  the 
Russian  government.  This  circular,  issued  March  28, 
1907,  was  upon  protest  in  Congress  and  upon  proof 
of  its  illegality,  withdrawn  January  25,  1908.  The 
main  point,  however,  is  that  such  a  circular  could 
have  been  issued  by  an  administration  elected  on  a 
party  platform,  which  had  pledged  itself  to  an  act 
of  justice  which  ought  to  be  self  evident.  It  is  small 
consolation  that  other  countries  adopted  the  same 
invertebrate  policy  with  regard  to  their  Jewish  citizens. 


218  SCROLLS 

The  government  of  Bavaria  accommodated  Russia  in 
so  far  as  to  enter  the  religion  on  passports  issued  to 
Jews,  while  this  is  not  done  on  passports  issued  to 
other  citizens.  This  practice  was  discontinued  upon 
the  protest  of  the  Jews,  but  the  matter  is  by  no  means 
changed.  In  Prussia  the  Oppeln  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce complained  that  German  Jewish  merchants 
traveling  in  Russia  were  discriminated  against.  The 
minister  coolly  replied  that  as  long  as  it  can  not  be 
proven  that  Russia  treated  Jewish  citizens  of  other 
countries  differently,  he  can  not  provide  any  remedy. 
While  the  legal  position  of  the  Jews  in  all  of  Western 
Europe  and  in  all  civilized  countries  of  other  conti- 
nents is  and  has  been  for  many  years  clearly  denned 
as  one  of  absolute  equality  with  their  fellow-citizens, 
the  practice  is  considerably  different.  Germany  may 
in  this  respect  be  mentioned  in  the  first  place.  A 
judge  in  Frankfurt  am  Main  said  in  the  court  room 
to  a  Jewish  witness  who  refused  to  sign  his  testimony 
on  the  Sabbath:  "You  Jews  demand  all  rights  but 
do  not  wish  to  comply  with  the  law  of  the  state." 
The  remark  was  certainly  improper,  as  the  Jew  was 
in  this  case  not  an  official  who  refused  to  do  his  duty, 
and  the  superior  court  decided  in  this  sense.  The 
court  in  Berlin  decided  a  libel  case  which  is  very 
typical.  A  visitor  to  a  Berlin  exposition  had  been 
refused  a  certain  request  by  a  Jewish  employe.  He 
wrote  a  letter  to  the  management  of  the  exposition  in 
which  he  complained  of  improper  treatment  by  a 
"youth  of  Hebrew  descent."  The  young  man  re- 
ferred to  sued  for  libel,  but  the  court  decided  that  by 
this  remark  the  plaintiff  was  only  characterized  and 


JL'  D  A  ISM    I  X    5  66  8  21Q 

not  insulted.  At  a  teachers'  convention  in  Posen 
the  principal  of  a  gymnasium  spoke  of  the  Jews  as 
lacking  in  the  love  of  home.  A  complaint  was  lodged 
with  the  minister  of  education  who  decided  that  there 
was  no  cause  for  action  on  his  part.  One  can  not 
wonder  under  these  conditions  that  men  and  societies, 
not  being  under  restraint  by  their  position,  express 
these  sentiments  in  stronger  words.  Thus  the  Ger- 
man National  Association  of  Clerks  issued  a  cam- 
paign document  in  which  they  said  that  a  Jew  born 
in  Germany  was  no  more  a  German  than  a  donkey 
born  in  the  Fatherland.  Unfortunately  it  appears 
that  even  liberal  politicians,  while  theoretically  op- 
posed to  all  discriminations  on  the  ground  of  religion, 
are  in  practice  not  free  from  anti-Jewish  bias.  A 
strong  case  in  point  is  the  recent  defeat  of  Dr.  Land- 
mann  as  candidate  for  the  office  of  mayor  of  Mann- 
heim, although  he  was  admitted  to  be  the  most 
logical  man  for  the  place. 

Events  in  France  which  are  treated  further  along 
indicate  the  still  prevailing  feeling  in  spite  of  the  un- 
deniable victory  of  liberalism,  by  the  undisturbed 
carrying  out  of  the  policy  of  separation  of  state  and 
church. 

To  speak  of  Austria  in  this  connection  would  be 
impossible,  for  Austrian  antisemitism  is  simply  the 
record  of  the  history  of  the  Jews  of  that  country 
during  the  past  year.  It  would  be  necessary  to 
write  a  chronicle  of  the  transactions  in  the  Reichsrat 
in  the  diet  of  Lower  Austria,  in  the  city  council  of 
Vienna  and  a  good  deal  of  the  public  business  trans- 
acted in  other  parts  of  the  country,  were  we  to  give 


220  SCROLLS 

an  adequate  presentation  of  its  antisemitism.  It  is, 
however,  to  the  point  to  note  two  small  incidents  in  the 
Transvaal  colony  which  show  that  European  coloni- 
zation brings  in  the  wake  of  its  civilizing  influences 
antisemitism  into  newly  opened  territories.  From 
Johannesburg  comes  the  report  that  Jews  are  insulted 
on  street  cars  and  from  Pretoria  the  news  is  reported 
that  the  Boers  at  a  convention  passed  a  resolution 
censuring  the  government  for  employing  Jews  in  the 
postal  and  telegraph  service.  The  fact  of  the  matter 
is  that  Jews  living  in  isolated  rural  districts  and  min- 
ing camps  as  storekeepers  act  without  remuneration 
in  the  service  of  the  postal  telegraph  department  by 
forwarding  letters  and  telegrams  to  the  nearest 
station  and  thus  are  performing  a  service  to  the 
government.  (2.) 

The  Jews  in  countries  where  what  we  call  medieval 
conditions  prevail  and  are  still  prevailing  seem  to 
face  a  grave  crisis.  In  Morocco  just  now  the  victory 
of  the  pretender  Mulai  Hand  over  his  brother,  the 
legitimate  sultan,  Abdul  Asis,  seems  to  be  decided, 
although  telegraphic  reports  from  this  part  of  the 
globe  are  never  quite  reliable,  and  by  the  time  that 
this  review  appears  in  print  things  may  have  changed 
entirely.  To  the  Jews  this  change  would  hardly  be 
of  consequence.  The  pretender  has  levied  a  tax  of 
one-third  of  the  value  of  houses  owned  by  the  Jews 
in  the  district  which  he  occupied  with  his  troops;  the 
legitimate  sultan  would  have  done  likewise  if  he  could 
The  troops  of  the  pretender  butchered  the  Jews  of 
Statt;  those  of  the  legitimate  sultan  did  the  same 
thing  in  individual  instances.  The  establishment  of 


J  U  DA  ISM    IN   5668  221 

peace  and  order  seems  now  further  away  than  a  year 
ago,  when  it  appeared  almost  certain  that  France 
would  protect  Morocco  as  it  has  been  doing  with 
Tunis  for  the  last  twenty-seven  years.  A  European 
administration  is  the  only  safeguard  for  the  Jews  of 
Morocco  and  their  only  hope  of  escape  from  the 
conditions  of  barbarous  oppression  under  which  they 
are  living  now  as  they  have  been  living  ever  since 
there  has  been  any  record  of  their  history  in  that 
country.  Similarly  unsettled  are  the  conditions  in 
Persia.  The  Shah  does  not  know  where  to  turn, 
Russia  and  England  are  watching  each  other  jealously, 
lest  one  power  gain  a  stronger  influence  than  the  other, 
and  meantime  the  country  is  torn  by  internal  strife. 
The  unsafety  of  life  and  property  to  which  the  Persian 
Jews  have  been  habituated  from  the  days  of  Haman 
continues  as  heretofore  and  is  reaching  a  rather 
critical  stage  owing  to  the  fact  that  in  every  internal 
disorder  the  Jew  is  the  first  sufferer.  Turkey  has 
since  July  fourteenth  a  constitutional  form  of  govern- 
ment. Here  Jews  had  no  reason  to  complain  of  any 
hostile  treatment  on  the  part  of  the  government. 
They  were  rather  favorites  of  the  sultan,  for  they 
possessed  the  least  political  ambition  of  his  majesty's 
subjects.  They  did  not  conspire  like  the  Armenians, 
Greeks,  Bulgarians  and  Albanese;  they  did  not  at- 
tempt to  establish  an  independent  country  like  the 
Arabs,  and  they  were  far  safer  as  taxpayers  than  the 
Kurds.  It  may  be  that  this  change  will  affect  them 
considerably,  and  especially  will  this  be  the  case  in 
Palestine.  It  is  hardly  possible  that  a  well-ordered 
government  will  allow  generations  of  Jews,  grown  up 


222  SCROLLS 

in  the  country,  to  remain  foreign  subjects,  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  commercial  and  industrial  activity 
as  well  as  agricultural  development,  will  undoubtedly 
progress.  The  Alliance  Israelite,  and  in  Palestine 
the  Zionist  organizations  and  the  German  Hilfs- 
verein  are  each  contributing  a  share  to  the  preparation 
for  better  times  in  these  lands  of  oppression,  although 
the  effects  of  education  on  the  economic  status  will 
not  so  readily  be  noticeable. 

The  agrarian  revolts  in  Roumania,  which,  in  March, 
1907,  brought  such  misery  upon  the  Jews,  were 
quelled  by  the  government,  which  is  a  government  of 
and  for  the  landed  proprietors,  but  the  policy  of  these 
Bojars  to  divert  the  attention  of  their  victims  from 
the  real  source  of  their  trouble  by  alllowing  them  the 
pastime  of  persecuting  the  Jews,  is  continuing.  The 
most  typical  case  was  the  trial  of  Colonel  Marasescu, 
who  had  treated  Jewish  soldiers  with  a  brutality 
worthy  of  a  Spanish  conquistador,  having  given  orders 
to  strip  them  naked  in  the  presence  of  the  whole 
company  and  to  beat  them  into  insensibility.  There 
was  not  the  slightest  excuse  nor  any  provocation  for 
this  act  of  brutality,  so  that  even  the  minister  of  war 
condemned  it,  still  the  case  against  this  fiend  was  dis- 
missed by  the  court  of  Jassy,  February  28.  Under 
these  conditions  it  is  somewhat  surprising  that  Prof. 
Jorga,  an  antisemitic  politician,  advocated  a  special 
tax  to  be  imposed  upon  the  Jews  in  lieu  of  military 
service.  The  suggestion  was  hardly  meant  seriously, 
for,  as  another  antisemitic  politician,  A.  C.  Cuza, 
plainly  confessed,  the  policy  of  his  party  with  regard 
to  the  Jews  must  be  one  of  "blood  and  fraud." 


J  r  DA  ISM    IN    5668  223 

In  Russia,  government  by  execution  and  imprison- 
ment, as  it  is  now  successfully  carried  on  by  Mr. 
Stolypin,  means  to  the  Jews  the  abandonment  of  all 
hope  of  an  improvement  of  their  condition.  If  there 
were  any  doubts  as  to  the  views  of  the  heads  of  the 
administration,  the  trial  of  the  rioters  at  the  various 
pogroms  would  dispel  it.  The  most  typical  of  these 
was  the  trial  of  the  Bialystok  rioters,  which  began 
June  8,  and  resulted — after  weeks  of  tedious  proceed- 
ings, made  interesting  by  the  efforts  of  the  prosecutor 
to  suppress  all  evidence  of  guilt  of  the  officials — in 
the  dismissal  of  most  of  the  accused,  while  the  few 
who  were  convicted  received  ridiculously  light  sen- 
tences and  were  promptly  pardoned  by  the  Czar. 
The  league  of  the  Black  Hundred  frankly  claimed 
this  fact  as  the  proof  that  its  views  are  those  of  the 
court.  One  must  not  forget  that  at  these  massacres 
in  a  provincial  town  seventy-eight  Jews  were  killed, 
and  that  the  same  government  which  pardoned  these 
assassins  mercilessly  executes  one  who  attacks  a 
policeman  or  robs  a  postoffice.  The  administration 
policy  of  the  government  is  in  full  harmony  with 
these  principles.  Without  previous  warning  the 
Jews  of  Wladiwostok  were  expelled  on  four  days' 
notice,  and  only  to  property  holders  two  more  weeks 
were  granted.  The  reason  for  this  order  is  said  to 
have  been  an  adverse  criticism  of  Secretary  Taft  on 
the  fortifications  of  the  harbor,  and,  as  somebody  had 
to  be  blamed  for  it,  the  Jews  were  expelled.  The 
restrictions  on  the  right  of  residence  are  enforced  with 
a  zeal  which  excels  that  of  von  Plehve.  Jewish 
laborers  working  for  the  canning  houses  in  the  fishing 


224  SCROLLS 

industry  at  Astrachan  are  expelled.  The  health 
resorts  of  the  Caucasus  are  closed  to  Jews,  and  only 
after  a  discussion  in  the  Duma  exceptions  are  made 
under  humiliating  and  aggravating  conditions.  From 
Moscow  even  those  are  expelled  who  were  left  un- 
disturbed when  Grand  Duke  Sergius  was  governor. 
The  percentage  of  school  attendance  is  restricted  to 
the  status  which  existed  previous  to  1905,  and  the  law 
proclaiming  liberty  of  conscience  which  a  gullible 
American  press  greeted  with  an  outburst  of  enthusiasm 
is  a  dead  letter.  When  the  rabbi  of  St.  Petersburg 
wanted  directions  for  the  reconversion  of  Jews  who 
had  converted  to  Christianity,  he  was  told  that  the 
details  would  have  to  be  settled  later.  Needless  to 
say,  they  are  not  settled  yet.  At  the  same  time  this 
government  takes  great  interest  in  the  spiritual  welfare 
of  the  Jews  and  announces  the  convocation  of  a 
rabbinical  conference,  for  which  preparations  are 
already  being  made  by  conventions  of  the  rabbis  of 
various  provinces.  That  in  a  country  like  Russia  the 
courts  are  merely  part  of  the  government's  machinery 
is  manifested  by  the  wholesale  executions,  and  the 
Jews  are  made  to  feel  this  fact.  The  senate,  the 
Russian  supreme  court,  works  heels  over  head  in 
construing  daily  the  old  laws  in  the  narrowest  possible 
sense.  One  Jew,  in  order  to  escape  the  constant 
persecution  by  the  authorities,  becomes  a  Protestant, 
and  so  his  Christian  faith  should  protect  him  from 
annoyances  by  the  police.  But  far  from  it!  The 
senate  finds  that  as  long  as  his  wife  is  not  converted 
to  Christianity,  he  is  only  half  a  Christian,  and  only  a 
full  Christian  may  live  outside  of  the  Pale.  A  Jewish 


JUDAISM   IN   5668  225 

student  has  under  great  difficulties  obtained  the  right 
to  matriculate  at  the  University  of  St.  Petersburg  or 
Kiev  or  Charkov.  The  parents  rejoiced  and  moved 
to  the  same  place  to  keep  house  for  him,  but  the  senate 
says,  that  while  children  are  part  of  the  household  of 
the  parents,  the  rule  does  not  work  the  other  way. 
One  Jew  has  under  great  difficulties  obtained  a 
diploma  as  a  master  mechanic,  but  he  is  not  a  member 
of  the  guild  and  of  course  is  excluded  from  living  out- 
side of  the  Pale.  The  Duma  takes  the  hint  and  passes 
a  resolution  demanding  that  the  diplomas  granted 
by  technical  schools  should  not  entitle  the  holder  to 
the  privileges  of  a  master  mechanic.  Finally  one 
master  mechanic  succeeds  in  living  undisturbed  in  one 
of  the  prohibited  cities  and  employs  a  townsman  or  a 
relative  in  his  shop.  The  poor  fellow  is  honestly 
working  at  his  trade,  but  the  senate  decided  that  he 
is  a  laborer,  not  possessing  a  certificate,  and  his 
Jewish  master  can  not  employ  him.  A  Jewish  manu- 
facturer paying  the  highest  rate  of  taxes  may  live 
outside  of  the  Pale  and  may  employ  Jewish  clerks. 
But  it  so  happens  that  a  Jew  is  president  of  a  stock 
company  engaged  in  manufacture.  The  senate  de- 
cides that  a  corporation  is  not  an  individual  and, 
therefore,  can  not  employ  Jewish  clerks.  The  Duma 
is  the  last  place  from  which  the  Jews  could  expect  any 
relief.  There  are  two  Jewish  members  in  this  body, 
while  the  first  Duma  had  twelve,  but  aside  from  the 
fact  that  they  are  powerless  and  that  the  reactionaries 
are  in  the  majority,  even  the  liberals  do  not  intend 
risking  their  popularity  by  working  for  justice  to  the 
Jews.  A  socialist  who  tried  to  discuss  the  disabilities 


226  SCROLLS 

of  the  Jews  was  called  to  order.  The  reactionaries 
clamor  against  the  slightest  concessions,  and  like  their 
Roumanian  sympathizers  they  demand  that  the  Jews 
be  excluded  from  the  army  and  be  subjected  to  a 
special  tax  instead.  A  typical  incident,  illustrating 
the  sentiment  of  the  Duma,  is  the  following:  A  res- 
taurant keeper,  a  man  of  blameless  political  record; 
something  which  is  not  easily  obtained  in  Russia,  72 
years  old,  and  having  the  title  of  a  privy  councilor,  was 
asked  by  a  governor  who  visited  his  place  why  he 
did  not  keep  one  of-  the  reactionary  newspapers.  He 
promptly  replied  that  he  did  not  do  so  because  he 
condemned  the  policy  of  violence  and  hatred.  For 
this  unpatriotic  view  he  was  expelled.  The  case  was 
brought  before  the  Duma  and  the  latter  approved 
the  governor's  action. 

Without  denying  that  the  condition  of  the  Russian 
Jews  might  be  considered  an  ideal  one,  if  it  could  be 
brought  up  to  the  level  of  their  coreligionists  in 
Austria,  the  latter  country  affords  strong  proof  of  the 
difficulty  to  overcome  by  legislation  the  effects  of 
centuries  of  tyranny,  both  ecclesiastical  and  political. 
It  has  already  been  stated  that  it  would  require  a 
volume  of  abstracts  from  the  proceedings  of  parlia- 
mentary bodies  and  city  councils  in  order  to  record 
all  anti-Jewish  speeches,  resolutions,  and  acts.  How 
far  things  may  go  under  a  constitutional  government 
is  best  proven  by  the  brutal  killing  of  the  Jewish 
recruit,  Michael  Herschkowitz,  by  his  sergeant. 
The  Austrian  secretary  of  war,  when  the  matter  was 
brought  up  in  the  Reichsrat,  declared  it  to  be  a  case 
of  cold-blooded  murder,  but  the  criminal  escaped 
with  a  light  sentence.  While  here  the  desire  of  main- 


J  U  DA  ISM   IX  5668  227 


taining  military  discipline  may  have  acted  as  an 
excuse  for  such  a  miscarriage  of  justice,  some  of  the 
speeches  in  parliament  indicated  a  purely  Russian 
spirit.  A  Christian  socialist  member  introduced  a 
resolution  which  demanded  the  restriction  of  the 
number  of  Jewish  students  in  accordance  with  their 
proportion  to  the  population.  The  resolution  was 
defeated  by  a  vote  of  162  to  205.  It  is  natural  that 
in  such  a  parliament  a  clear  violation  of  international 
treaty  rights,  when  the  victim  was  a  Jew,  would  be 
condoned.  The  engineer,  Benno  Kohn,  an  Austrian 
subject,  employed  in  a  mine  in  Prussia,  was  expelled 
from  the  country  for  no  other  reason  than  that  he  was 
a  Jew.  The  matter  was  discussed  in  the  Reichsrat 
but  received  no  majority  although  the  Poles  out  of 
hatred  for  Prussia  voted  for  a  censure  of  the  govern- 
ment, but  the  minister  declared  just  as  in  the  case 
of  the  Russian  passports,  that  as  long  as  Prussia 
treated  all  foreign  Jews  alike,  he  could  not  protest 
against  the  decision.  One  is  moved  to  wonder  that 
in  such  a  parliament  blood  accusations  should  not 
be  discussed.  Indeed,  the  Reichsrat  did  not  miss 
such  an  opportunity  for  disgracing  itself  in  the  history 
of  twentieth  century  civilization.  A  feeble-minded 
Christian  boy  of  Zwittau,  sent  on  an  errand,  lost  his 
way  and  died  in  the  woods  from  exposure.  There 
was  no  sign  of  any  violent  death,  nor  was  any  Jew 
connected  with  the  matter  at  all,  but  the  party  which 
calls  itself  Christian  took  this  opportunity  of  bringing 
the  matter  into  the  Reichsrat  in  the  form  of  an  inter- 
pellation, with  the  only  object  in  view  to  have  the 
newspapers  print  it  without  incurring  a  libel  suit. 
Very  amusing  is  the  fact  that  the  Jews  were  brought 


228  SCROLLS 

into  a  controversy  on  two  occasions  with  which  they 
had  nothing  to  do,  save  as  indirect  victims.  The 
Vienna  burgomaster,  Karl  Lueger,  in  spite  of  his 
infirmity  still  the  recognized  leader  and  the  brains 
of  the  clerical  party,  addressed  a  Catholic  convention 
in  Vienna  and  in  the  course  of  his  remarks,  evidently 
forgetting  his  usual  prudence,  said:  "We  have  con- 
quered the  elementary  schools  but  we  shall  not  stop 
until  we  have  conquered  the  universities."  The  only 
possible  interpretation  of  these  words  was  that  the 
universities  were  to  be  conducted  in  a  clerical  spirit. 
When,  however,  these  words  had  elicited  protests 
from  Austrian  universities  regardless  of  nationality 
and  from  students,  professors  and  politicians,  in- 
cluding those  of  antisemitic  convictions,  the  words 
of  Lueger  were  interpreted  to  have  been  directed  aginst 
the  Jews,  because  there  were  actually  seven  Jews, 
three  of  whom  were  not  baptized,  appointed  as  pro- 
fessors at  the  Vienna  University.  This  cheap  excuse 
did  not  work,  and  the  insincerity  of  it  soon  became 
manifest.  Ludwig  Wahrmund,  professor  of  ecclesi- 
astic law  at  the  University  of  Innsbruck,  delivered  a 
lecture,  later  on  published  in  pamphlet  form,  in  which 
he  attacked  the  main  dogmas  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
Wahrmund  was  at  one  time  a  candidate  on  the 
Christian  socialist  ticket;  his  father,  a  professor  at  the 
University  of  Vienna,  is  an  antisemitic  author,  but  in 
spite  of  all  that  he  was  attacked  as  a  Jew  because,  so 
the  clerical  leaders  said,  only  a  man  of  Jewish  blood 
could  have  exhibited  such  a  hatred  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  As  he  possessed  the  sympathy  of  the  Ger- 
man nationalists,  who  are  anticlerical,  he  could  not 
be  removed  from  his  position,  while  a  Jewish  professor 


JUDAISM    IN   5668  22<) 

suffered  this  fate  for  a  much  lighter  offense.  Sigmund 
Feilbogen,  professor  at  a  commercial  academy  of 
Vienna,  was  in  Rome  on  Easter  Sunday  and  visited 
the  Sistine  Chapel,  together  with  his  wife  and  his 
sister-in-law.  Receiving  the  sacrament  from  the  hands 
of  the  Pope,  the  sister-in-law  for  some  unexplained 
reason  is  said  to  have  taken  the  holy  wafer  out  of  her 
mouth.  As  according  to  the  Catholic  Church,  the 
consecrated  wafer  is  the  body  of  Jesus,  such  an  act 
is  a  sacrilege  and  a  hundred  years  ago  the  lady 
would  have  made  atonement  for  it  at  the  stake.  As 
Rome,  however,  is  not  under  papal  government  and 
as  the  world  has  adopted  somewhat  more  civilized 
methods  in  dealing  with  criminals,  the  effect  of  the 
case  was  that  Prof.  Feilbogen  was  discharged.  He 
is  said,  however,  meantime  to  have  converted  to 
Catholicism  and  perhaps  there  will  be  the  rejoicing 
attendant  upon  the  repentance  of  the  one  sinner  as 
against  the  ninety-nine  righteous  people,  and  Prof. 
Feilbogen  will  get  another  job.  Quite  a  number  of 
his  fellow-countrymen  are  taking  matters  by  the 
forelock  and  the  list  of  apostates  in  Vienna  will  reach 
a  record  number  this  year.  In  spite  of  all  this  the 
Catholic  Church  is  still  hungry  for  souls,  and  in 
Galicia  the  kidnapping  of  young  girls  and  their  de- 
tention in  monasteries  is  a  matter  so  frequent  that 
our  American  coreligionists  take  such  little  notice  of 
it  that  they  prefer  a  convent  to  the  best  and  most  in- 
telligently conducted  secular  institution,  for  the  edu- 
cation of  their  daughters. 

The  advanced  age  of  Kmpcror  Francis  Joseph  is 
bound  to  fill  the  Austrian  statesmen  with  great  appre- 
hensions. It  is  possible  enough  that  the  rupture 


230  SCROLLS 

between  Austria  and  Hungary,  which  seemed  im- 
minent two  years  ago,  may  take  place  when  the 
aged  emperor  leaves  this  world.  For  the  present 
the  somewhat  unnatural  union  between  Hungarian 
clericals  and  liberals,  cemented  under  great  difficulties, 
still  lasts,  but  there  are  no  Jewish  affairs  of  consequence 
to  be  recorded.  The  Jewish  congregations  continue 
to  have  their  internal  fights,  and  on  the  other  hand 
the  leading  Jews,  backed  by  the  Magyar  politicians, 
including  the  clerical  minister  of  education  and 
worship,  Count  Apponyi,  are  making  strenuous 
efforts  to  bring  about  a  union  of  all  Jewish  congrega- 
tions, regardless  of  their  religious  differences.  This 
union,  desired  by  the  Magyars  in  order  to  bring  the 
Jews  over  to  their  cause  and  by  the  Jewish  politicians 
in  order  to  obtain  political  influence,  is  strongly  opposed 
by  the  Orthodox,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  Count 
Apponyi  declared  himself  strongly  in  favor  of  such  a 
union,  when  he  received  a  Jewish  committee,  Febru- 
ary 11.  The  country  at  large  shows  the  same  wide 
differences  which  the  Jewish  communities  show. 
As  the  latter  have  Jews  of  modern  culture,  authors, 
artists,  and  satesmen,  while  in  some  parts  of  the 
country  the  "Wunderrabbi"  still  has  a  great  follow- 
ing, so  Hungary  has  in  spite  of  all  the  liberalism  of  her 
leading  statesmen,  occasionally  blood  accusations 
and  mob  riots,  but  her  steady  progress  is  beyond 
doubt. 

By  their  language  the  Magyars  and  the  Finns  are 
related  and  together  with  the  Turks  form  philo- 
logically  an  isolated  tribe  among  the  European 
nationalities.  As  Finland  is  an  independent  state 


JUDAISM   IN   5668  231 


under  the  rule  of  the  Czar  of  Russia,  so  Hungary  is  an 
independent  state  under  the  rule  of  the  Austrian 
emperor.  Otherwise  as  far  as  Jewish  affairs  are  con- 
cerned there  is  no  comparison.  Finland  has  guarded 
her  Swedish  traditions,  forgotten  in  Sweden  since 
1870,  and  has  adopted  the  Russian  policy  of  dis- 
crimination against  the  Jews.  Under  various  sub- 
terfuges and  unavoidable  exceptions  which  all  in- 
human laws  carry  with  them,  some  Jews  have  found  a 
home  in  Finland  although  the  law  of  March  29,  1889, 
prohibits  their  residence  in  the  country,  as  was  the 
case  in  all  of  Sweden  up  to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  Under  the  new  order  of  things  which  re- 
established Finnish  autonomy,  the  Jews  hoped  and 
are  still  hoping  to  enjoy  the  liberty  which  the  Finns 
demand  for  themselves.  It  seems,  however,  that  the 
Finns,  Protestant  Christians  though  they  are,  do  not 
care  to  live  up  to  the  rule  that  one  should  do  to  others 
as  he  wishes  that  others  should  do  unto  him.  In  this 
predicament  the  Jews  of  Finland  sent  a  committee  of 
three  to  wait  on  George  Brandes.  the  famous  Danish 
author,  requesting  him  to  use  his  strong  influence  in 
their  behalf.  He  answered  evasively,  and  only  the 
complaint  of  these  three  men  in  the  press  at  his 
unkind  attitude  drew  him  out.  He  pleaded  in  the 
"Frankfurter  Zeitung"  the  cause  of  his  coreligionists 
but  declared  at  the  same  time  that  the  word  co- 
religionists was  a  misnomer  in  his  case.  He  floes  not 
desire  to  be  known  as  a  Jew,  he  is  even  irritated  at 
the  fact  that  the  Finnish  papers  flatteringly  referred 
to  him  as  a  strong  argument  against  the  cruel  laws 
discriminating  against  the  Jews.  He  declares  that 


232  SCROLLS 

whatever  he  may  be,  least  of  all  is  he  a  Jew,  and  yet 
he  is  a  lineal  descendant  of  an  orthodox  rabbi. 

Germany  is  further  strong  evidence  of  the  fact  that 
constitutional  liberty  neither  does  away  with  popular 
prejudice  nor  does  it  mean  enforcement  of  organized 
principles  in  practice.  The  Reichstag  twrice  dis- 
cussed the  fact  that  no  Jew  has  for  years  been  ap- 
pointed an  officer  in  the  army.  While  those  who 
serve  their  year  as  volunteers  are  in  many  cases 
appointed  officers  in  the  reserve,  this  distinction  is 
denied  to  Jews  and  only  the  Bavarian  contingent,  over 
which  the  prince  regent  of  Bavaria  has  unlimited 
authority,  is  an  exception.  It  was  pointed  out  in  the 
Reichstag  that  it  was  absolutely  impossible  that  of 
the  many  Jews  who  serve  in  the  army,  not  one  should 
have  been  considered  good  enough  to  be  made  an 
officer,  but  the  secretary  of  war  replied  that  he  knew 
of  no  rule  discriminating  against  the  Jews.  Shortly 
afterwards  the  newspapers  reported  that  an  imperial 
order  had  been  issued  condemning  the  discrimination 
against  the  Jews.  The  matter  was  later  on  corrected : 
the  rule  was  merely  meant  to  protect  the  Catholic 
interests  because  a  young  officer  had  been  forced  to 
resign  on  account  of  his  conversion  from  Protestant- 
ism to  Roman  Catholicism.  Catholics  who  control 
105  out  of  397  votes  in  the  Reichstag  are  a  power, 
Jews  are  not.  It  may  be  safely  assumed  that  the 
emperor,  in  spite  of  his  religious  liberalism,  which  he 
repeatedly  manifested  by  his  sympathy  for  Harnack 
and  Delitzsch,  and  in  spite  of  his  personally  friendly 
relations  to  some  Jewish  financiers,  is  in  sympathy 
with  the  policy  which  strengthens  the  military  spirit. 


JU  D  A  ISM   IN    5668  23* 

Of  political  conditions  in  the  various  states  of 
Germany,  the  debate  on  antiseniitism  in  the  diet  of 
the  Grand  Duchy  of  Hesse  deserves  notice.  This 
state  is  the  hotbed  of  antiseniitism.  About  eighteen 
years  ago,  when  this  movement  made  itself  strongly 
felt,  the  government  tried  in  various  ways  to  check 
its  progress.  Church  and  school  authorities  used 
their  influence  against  it,  and  the  minister  of  state 
warned  all  state  officials  against  participation  in  this 
agitation.  This  circular,  issued  in  1892,  is  a  thorn 
in  the  side  of  the  antisemites,  and  it  seems  that  the 
Jews  themselves  do  not  consider  it  of  any  value. 
The  government,  however,  refused  to  accede  to  the 
demand  for  its  repeal  because  this  might  be  inter- 
preted as  a  change  of  policy.  In  Prussia,  where  anti- 
semitism  is,  if  not  coddled,  at  least  treated  with  con- 
siderable delicacy  by  the  authorities,  a  member  of 
the  upper  house  complained  of  the  scandalous  affairs 
at  the  seashore  resort  of  Borkum,  where  antisemites 
have  been  in  the  habit  of  insulting  every  Jewish 
visitor  in  order  to  keep  Jews  away  from  the  island. 
The  minister  of  the  interior,  von  Moltke,  declared 
that  he  condemned  such  rudeness.  Still  this  official 
expression  will  hardly  have  great  effect.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  prohibitions  of  Shehitah,  which  are 
possible  owing  to  the  fact  that  each  city  has  a  right 
to  establish  its  own  abattoir  and  make  it  compulsory 
for  butchers  to  have  the  killing  of  animals  done  there, 
are  inspired  by  the  desire  to  annoy  the  Jews.  Such 
prohibitions  have  occurred  in  various  Prussian  cities 
and  in  some  small  German  states.  Even  little 
Schaumburg,  of  whose  existence  on  the  map  only 


234  SCROLLS 

specialists  in  geography  have  any  knowledge,  found 
it  necessary  to  protect  her  oxen  against  inhuman 
treatment  on  the  part  of  the  Jews,  while  the  small 
German  states  in  the  south,  like  Bavaria  and  Wur- 
temberg,  have  in  this  respect  exhibited  a  strong 
regard  for  Jewish  sentiment,  ref using  to  entertain 
any  suggestions  to  restrict  the  religious  liberty  of 
their  Jewish  citizens.  In  Bavaria,  where  the  clericals 
have  the  majo~ity,  there  is  manifest  desire  to  show 
an  interest  in  the  protection  of  the  Jewish  religion. 
Clerical  members  of  the  Bavarian  diet,  advocated 
legal  provision  in  the  interest  of  the  Orthodox  minori- 
ties of  the  large  congregations  like  Munich  and  Nurem- 
berg and  a  state  subsidy  for  the  Jewish  normal  school 
at  Wurzburg,  an  appropriation  from  the  funds  of  the 
state  for  teachers  of  Jewish  religion  in  the  public 
schools.  The  government,  while  not  ready  to  grant 
these  requests,  considers  it  its  duty  to  protect  re- 
ligious interests  and  an  order  which  defines  the  mutual 
relations  of  rabbi  and  Hazan  in  Zweibrucken  is  some- 
what comically  suggestive  of  the  patriarchal  time  of 
autocracy  some  eighty  years  ago,  when  old  King 
Ludwig,  the  deeply  religious  Mend  of  Lola  Montez, 
was  graciously  pleased  to  indorse  a  German  transla- 
tion of  the  Jewish  prayerbook. 

Even  Prussia,  which  always  maintained  the  tra- 
ditional policy  of  not  interfering  with  internal  Jewish 
affairs,  a  policy  which  was  not  carried  out  consist- 
ently when  the  liberal  movement  in  the  synagogue 
was  to  be  kept  down,  has  of  late  shown  an  interest 
in  promoting  Jewish  education.  The  new  school  law 
issued  July  28,  1906,  which  went  into  effect  April  1, 


JUD  A  ISM   I  y   5  668  235 

1(X)8,  provides  for  state  subsidy  for  Jewish  schools. 
This  of  course  was  not  done  in  the  interest  of  the 
Jews,  but  rather  with  a  desire  to  make  a  display  of 
fairness  when  the  school  system  was  remodeled  to 
suit  the  clericals  of  both  Christian  churches.  In  this 
way  it  is  rendered  easier  to  insist  on  the  Christian 
character  of  the  public  schools. 

In  England,  the  liberal  government  of  Mr.  Balfour, 
which  came  into  power  right  after  the  enactment  of 
the  anti-alien  legislation,  does  not  seem  to  be  unwilling 
to  accept  the  heritage  of  its  conservative  predecessor. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  movement  against 
alien  immigration  is  chiefly  directed  against  Russian 
Jews.  The  liberal  government  with  Mr.  Gladstone 
as  home  secretary,  continues  to  carry  out  the  pro- 
visions of  this  law  which  the  liberals  denounced  when 
they  were  in  the  minority.  Mr.  Winston  Churchill, 
when  appointed  to  a  place  in  the  cabinet,  had  to  seek 
re-election  in  North  Manchester.  The  Jewish  voters 
of  his  district  asked  him  for  his  views  on  the  change 
of  anti-alien  legislation.  He  expressed  himself  as 
favoring  this  law  and  was  defeated.  The  conserva- 
tives used  this  opportunity  of  interpellating  the 
government  on  its  attitude  towards  such  a  departure 
from  the  policy  inaugurated  by  the  conservatives,  but 
received  only  evasive  replies.  It  is  evident  that  even 
the  liberal  government  is  afraid  of  losing  its  popularity 
by  expressing  itself  in  favor  of  the  liberal  treatment 
of  aliens.  The  Sunday  closing  Hll,  although  not 
passed,  seems  to  have  good  chances  and  the  excep- 
tions in  favor  of  Sabbath  observing  Jews  are  not 
receiving  very  strong  support.  The  British  Jews  had 


236  SCROLLS 

the  proud  privilege  of  celebrating  the  fiftieth  anni- 
versary of  the  admission  of  the  Jews  to  Parliament 
and  they  may  indeed  look  back  upon  this  half  century 
with  just  pride.  No  Parliament  elected  during  this 
period  was  without  Jews,  there  having  served  thirty- 
four  members  of  the  Jewish  community  in  the  House 
of  Commons  and  five  were  members  of  the  House  of 
Lords.  The  present  Parliament  holds  the  record, 
having  four  Jews  in  the  upper  house  and  sixteen  in  the 
lower  house. 

Another  semi-centenary  which  was  not  duly  com- 
memorated was  that  of  the  kidnapping  of  Edgar 
Mortara,  who  as  a  child  of  six  years  was,  by  order  of 
Pope  Pius  IX,  taken  from  the  house  of  his  parents  in 
Bologna  and  educated  as  a  Catholic.  He  is  a  monk 
of  the  Augustine  Order  now,  and  has  occasionally 
made  himself  heard  in  this  country  as  wrell  as  in 
Europe,  blaming  Providence  for  the  crime  committed 
by  Pius  IX  in  the  name  of  Christianity.  Who  knows 
whether  or  not  this  abominable  deed  will  be  counted 
as  one  item  of  the  reasons  for  the  beatification  of  the 
first  infallible  Pope.  The  Jews  of  Italy  have  good 
reason  to  look  back  with  satisfaction  on  the  last  half 
century,  when  in  the  very  Rome  where  such  a  cnme 
was  ordered,  the  Jew,  Ernest  Nathan,  was  elected 
mayor  of  the  Eternal  City.  In  other  ways  Italy 
shows  the  traits  of  what  is  considered  the  ideal  in 
countries  and  in  women.  It  is  the  best  country  for 
the  Jews  from  which  least  is  to  be  reported.  France, 
the  first  country  which  gave  to  the  Jews  full  civic  and 
political  equality,  now  has  a  liberal  government. 
Separation  of  state  and  church  is  being  carried  out 


JUDAISM   IN  566  8  237 


consistently;  the  monastery  in  the  Rue  cle  Sevres, 
where  St.  Expeditus,  the  result  of  a  misunderstood 
remark  on  an  express  package,  and  Our  Lady  of  Easy 
Deliverance  were  worshipped,  was  closed  without 
precipitating  any  revolution.  St.  Fxpeditus,  al- 
though not  recognized  in  the  calendar  of  saints,  may 
have  found  another  shrine,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt 
but  that  the  spirit  which  made  such  worship  popular, 
continues  in  spite  of  the  literary  activity  of  Father 
Loisy,  the  infidel  who,  in  spite  of  his  excommunica- 
tion, still  considers  himself  a  good  Catholic  priest. 
Two  instances  in  the  chamber,  when  the  brothers, 
Joseph  and  Theodore  Reinach,  were  insulted,  show 
just  as  did  the  attempt  on  the  life  of  Major  Dreyfus, 
that  the  spirit  which  created  the  Dreyfus  affair  has 
not  died  out.  A  strange  confirmation  of  a  psycholog- 
ical observation  made  by  the  ancient  rabbis  is 
presented  in  the  case  of  the  ensign,  Benjamin  Ullmo, 
convicted  of  high  treason.  The  rabbis  say  that 
Jacob  would  not  accept  any  consolation  after  the 
supposed  death  of  Joseph  because  we  could  not  accept 
consolation  after  a  fictitious  loss.  Thus  the  real 
treason  of  Ullmo  passed  by  without  any  considerable 
effect,  while  the  false  accusation  against  Dreyfus 
shook  the  country  for  years  to  its  foundation.  Of  the 
French  colonies,  Tunis  is  of  great  interest  in  Jewish 
affairs.  The  country  is  a  protectorate,  nominally 
under  a  native  ruler,  practically  a  French  colony. 
The  Jews  there  are  subject  to  the  obsolete  laws  of  the 
rabbinical  codes  and  to  the  whims  of  the  native 
Tunisian  tribunals.  Quite  a  number  of  them  are 
men  with  European  culture.  They  demand  a  change 


238  SCROLLS 

but  the  French  administration  is  afraid  of  arousing 
the  enmity  of  the  Mohammedan  element,  as  was  the 
case  in  Algeria.  It  seems  that,  warned  by  the  effects 
of  the  edict,  issued  by  Cremieux  in  1870,  which  gave 
to  the  Jews  of  Algeria  the  rights  of  citizens,  the 
government  will  move  more  slowly  in  the  case  of  the 
Tunisian  Jews,  but  a  remedy  is  looked  for  with 
certainty. 

The  growth  of  antisemitism  and  particularly  the 
Dreyfus  affair,  seriously  impeded  religious  progress 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Reform  was  considered 
useless  from  the  point  of  view  of  bringing  about  a 
closer  union  of  Jews  and  liberal  Christians  and  the 
chauvinistic  principles  of  Zionism  contributed  to 
this  development.  If  the  signs  of  the  times  are  read 
aright,  the  prospects  are  beginning  to  look  more 
favorable  just  now.  In  Paris  the  "Union  Liberale 
Israelite"  opened  a  synagog  with  Sunday  services, 
December  1st,  1907;  the  Jews  of  the  Grand  Duchy  of 
Baden,  where  the  Orthodox  won  an  overwhelming 
victory  at  the  last  election  to  the  synod,  March  15, 
1908,  formed  a  liberal  union,  and  so  did  the  Jews  of 
Bavaria  in  Nuremberg,  when  a  concession  had  to  be 
made  to  the  Orthodox  of  Munich,  and  in  May  a 
liberal  union  of  the  Jews  of  Germany  was  founded  in 
Berlin. 

The  great  political  change  which  has  come  over 
Turkey  will  undoubtedly  affect  the  prospects  of 
Zionism,  although  it  is  too  early  to  say  in  which  sense 
this  will  be  the  case.  The  movement  places  on 
record  two  very  important  events.  The  one  is 
rather  unfavorable.  A  London  court  decided,  May 


JUD  A  I  S  M   I  N   5  6  6  8  239 

4,  that  the  constitution  of  the  National  Fund  can  not 
be  changed  so  as  to  be  made  exclusively  applicable  to 
the  acquisition  of  territory  in  Palestine.  The  suit 
was  occasioned  by  the  Ito,  founded  in  1905,  when 
the  project  of  acquiring  land  in  East  Africa  was 
voted  down  at  the  congress  of  Basle,  by  the  majority 
of  Zionists  who  wanted  Palestine  or  nothing,  and  the 
administration  desired  to  express  this  will  in  the 
constitution.  Zangwill  in  the  name  of  the  Territor- 
ialists,  opposed  it  in  order  that  the  National  Fund 
might  be  made  available  for  any  other  territory,  and 
he  actually  won  this  important  victory.  The  second 
event  of  importance  is  the  visit  of  David  \Yolffsohn 
to  St.  Petersburg,  July  10th,  where  he  was  received  In- 
Premier  Stolypin  and  by  Iswolski,  the  minister  of 
justice.  Considering  the  difficulties  in  securing  the 
admission  of  foreign  Jews  into  Russia,  this  is  no  small 
achievement,  although  YVolffsohn  being  a  native  of 
Russia,  may  perhaps  still  be  a  Russian  subject  and 
travel  on  a  Russian  passport.  What  effect  this  event 
will  have  on  the  development  of  Zionism  nobody  can 
say  before  an  authentic  report  of  the  audience  shall 
have  been  given.  For  the  present  it  does  not  seem 
that  the  restrictions  on  Zionist  propaganda  have  been 
removed.  The  Territorialists  who  represent  the 
heretical  wing  of  Zionism  have  made  no  tangible 
progress,  although  an  expedition  is  under  way  for  the 
purpose  of  exploring  some  country,  intended  to  be 
the  much-desired  autonomous  Jewish  colony.  Zang- 
will was  very  guarded  in  his  address,  but  it  seems  that 
the  promised  land  is  south  of  Morocco,  where',  it  we 
are  not  mistaken,  the  Vienna  journalist,  Theodore' 


240  SCROLLS 

Hertzka,  in  1890,  tried  to  establish  a  co-operative 
commonwealth,  which,  however,  failed.  Mr.  Zang- 
will  has  a  perfect  right  to  be  given  the  benefit  of  the 
doubt  until  his  plans  are  brought  out  distinctly  before 
the  public. 

Colonization  in  Palestine  is  meantime  progressing, 
and  a  new  and  valuable  element  has  made  its  appear- 
ance in  a  colony  founded  by  the  warlike  Jews  of  the 
Caucasian  mountains.  The  old  colonies,  however,  are 
not  beyond  the  stage  of  experiment  and  their  success 
is  by  no  means  assured.  The  report  of  the  J.  C.  A. 
shows  progress  in  Argentina,  and  while  this  report 
may  be  colored,  it  seems  beyond  any  doubt  that  the 
population  of  the  colonies  is  increasing,  as  is  the 
prosperity  of  the  older  settlers.  Still,  as  a  solution  of 
the  Jewish  problem,  it  is  of  no  consequence  whether 
since  August  10,  1891,  when  Baron  de  Hirsh  bought 
the  first  tract  of  land  from  the  Argentine  republic, 
ten  to  fifteen  thousand  Jews  were  settled  in  the 
country  or  not.  The  same  lack  of  success  must  be  de- 
plored in  the  attempt  to  establish  agricultural  colonies 
in  the  United  States.  The  serious  strike  of  the 
students  of  the  school  at  Woodbine,  N.  J.,  is  hardly 
suggestive  of  favorable  prospects,  if  success  is  to  be 
understood,  not  in  the  sense  of  leading  some  Jews 
to  agricultural  pursuits,  but  in  the  sense  of  depleting 
the  Ghetto  and  counteracting  the  evils  of  the  sweat- 
shop. It  is  too  early  to  decide  whether  the  movement 
to  lead  the  mass  of  the  Jewish  immigrants  to  Galveston 
in  order  to  drain  the  crowded  settlements  on  the 
Atlantic  seashore  will  have  an  appreciable  effect. 
The  question  has  two  sides,  as  the  large  Jewish  settle- 


J  U  D  A  ISM    IN   5  668  24 1 

ments  no  doubt  mean  considerable  political  weight 
and  create  avenues  of  support  which  are  only  possible 
in  large  cities. 

It  is  manifestly  impossible  and  beyond  the  range 
of  this  review  to  give  several  hundreds  of  titles  of 
books  of  Jewish  interest  that  have  been  published 
during  the  last  year.  The  difficulty  is  increased 
by  the  fact  that  but  few  of  these  books  are  published 
with  Hebrew  dates,  and  it  can  not  be  said  which 
books  bearing  the  dates  of  1907  should  be  noticed  here. 
Of  general  interest  are  only  two  works  published 
in  that  time.  They  are  the  Hebrew  Dictionary,  by 
Ben  Jehuda,  of  which  at  this  writing  seven  parts  of 
the  first  volume,  reaching  to  page  336,  have  been 
published.  It  is  indeed  a  momentous  and  much- 
needed  work,  covering  the  whole  historic  development 
of  the  Hebrewr  language,  and  may  be  compared  to 
Murray's  English  Dictionary.  Another  important 
work  in  Hebrew  is  the  Hebrew  Encyclopedia  publish- 
ed by  Eisenstein,  of  New  York,  of  which  so  far  two 
volumes  have  appeared.  While  my  name  appears 
among  the  editors  on  the  title  page,  I  unfortunately 
was  not  able  to  do  so  much  for  it  that  it  would  be 
self-laudation  to  recommend  this  work  of  the  inde- 
fatigable scholar  as  one  of  the  most  far-reaching 
literary  enterprises  in  the  Jewish  world. 

Of  general  interest  is  the  publication  of  the  first 
volume  of  a  work  on  Maimonides  by  the  society  for 
the  promotion  of  the  "science  of  Judaism,"  although 
the  publication  of  independent  essays  is  hardly  the  thing 
which  was  to  be  expected  from  the  start.  To  the  same 
line  of  work  belongs  Neumark's  "Gcschichte  cler 


242  SCROLLS 

Juedischen  Philosophic  des  Mittelalters,"  which  goes 
beyond  the  limits  of  its  title,  including,  as  it  does, 
Bible  and  Talmud.  Of  similar  largeness  of  scope 
is  Martin  Philippson's  "Neueste  Geschichte  des 
Judischen  Volkes,"  covering  a  field  that  requires  a 
trained  historian.  To  friends  of  the  rabbinical 
literature,  who  are  unable  to  read  the  rabbinical 
works  in  the  original,  August  Wuensche's  new  anthol- 
ogy of  Midrashim,  in  German  translation,  of  which 
two  volumes  have  appeared,  will  be  welcome.  They 
are  an  addition  to  his  former  works  along  the  same 
line.  The  attacks  made  on  Judaism,  directly  and 
indirectly,  by  Christian  theologians  have  brought  out 
quite  a  number  of  Jewish  works  on  the  essentials  in 
Judaism.  We  mention  Abrahams'  "Judaism,"  Gold- 
schmidt's  "Wesen  des  Judenthums,"  and  Obermeier's1 
pungent  sarcasm  on  modern  Judaism,  reviewed  at 
length  in  this  paper.  A  special  place  must  be  reserved 
for  Friedrich  Delitzsch's  "Zur  Weiterbildung  der 
Religion."  In  connection  with  the  apology  for 
Judaism  two  works  on  the  criminalty  of  the  Jews,  one 
by  von  Liszt  and  one  by  Wassermann,  deserve  partic- 
ular mention.  To  this  category  belongs  also  Abbot's 
"Israel  in  Europe."  We  might  even  count  as  an 
apology  for  Judaism  Lea's  "History  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion," of  which  the  fourth  volume  has  appeared, 
although  the  work  deals  only  partly  \\  ith  matters  of 
Jewish  interest.  This  history  of  a  Jewish  family  and, 
indirectly,  a  specimen  of  the  achievements  of  Jews 
in  the  world  of  commerce,  industry  and  letters,  is 
presented  to  us  in  the  "Familie  Gomperz,"  edited 
from  the  manuscript  of  the  lamented  Prof,  Kaufmann 
1  Modernes  Judentum  im  Morgen-und  Abendlande.  Vienna,  1907. 


JUDAISM   IN  5668 


by  Rabbi  Freudenthal.  Biography  and  autobiog- 
raphy are  represented  by  the  charming  memoirs  of 
Julius  Rodenberg  and  the  thorough  biography  of 
Berthold  Auerbach  by  Bettelheim.  It  would  be 
unjust  to  close  this  review  without  making  some 
mention  of  American  literary  productions,  of  which 
may  be  noted  as  a  healthful  sign  of  promise,  Raisin's 
"Sect,  Creed  and  Custom"  and  Martin  Meyer's 
"History  of  the  City  of  Gaza."  Finally,  Shechter's 
second  volume  of  "Studies  in  Judaism"  deserves 
special  mention,  although  it  merely  represents  a 
reprint  of  articles  which  have  appeared  in  various 
periodicals.  The  Jewish  Publication  Society  here 
has  shown  good  judgment  in  collecting  readable 
essays,  scattered  and  inaccessible  to  the  public  at 
large.  Although  the  witer  can  not  entirely  withhold 
certain  important  differences  of  opinion,  as  his 
objection  to  the  presentation  of  Hassdism  as  a  spiritual- 
izing force,  while  it  is  largely  a  degeneracy  into  a 
superstition  nearing  the  Fetich  worship,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  the  essays  are  brilliantly  written  and 
have  the  merit  of  originality. 

To  the  readers,  if  they  have  followed  me  so  far, 
I  offer  my  sincere  apology  for  the  length  of  this  review, 
and  in  grateful  recognition  of  their  kindness  I  wish 
that  with  all  the  righteous  they  may  be  promptly 
inscribed  into  the  Book  of  Life  on  the  first  day  of  Rosh 
Hashanah. 


THE  YEAR  5669* 

MANY  American  Jews  who  have  forgotten  that 
there  are  fast  days  besides  Yom  Kippur,  or  who 
do  not  remember  them  when  they  come  around,  are 
unaware  of  their  orthodoxy.  We  are  living  in  a  time 
when,  from  the  most  rigorous  point  of  view  in  the 
observance  of  the  law,  these  fast  days  may  be  ignored, 
for  the  Talmud  (Rosh  Hashanah,  18  b.)  says:  In 
times  when  there  is  neither  persecution  nor  perfect 
peace,  the  fast  days  may  or  may  not  be  observed. 
This  expresses  exactly  the  situation  of  the  Jewish 
community  in  the  year  that  has  just  drawn  to  a  close. 
We  did  not  experience  such  persecutions  as  had 
aroused  us  to  the  seriousness  of  our  situation  three  and 
four  years  ago,  but  on  the  other  hand,  our  position  is 
not  just  what  we  should  like  it  to  be,  and  what  we 
would  be  entitled  to,  if  the  ideas  of  our  noblest  minds 
had  become  the  property  of  the  masses.  Legal 
restrictions  in  barbarous  countries  and  petty  social 
discriminations  in  countries  of  freedom,  with  an 
antipathy  which  can  not  always  be  proven  by  clear 
facts,  but  is  nevertheless  a  certainty  in  our  feelings, 
are  patent  to  the  observer  of  the  Jewish  situation 
when  he  reviews  the  events  of  the  year  just  closed. 

Beginning  with  the  United  States,  in  the  matter  of 
Antisemitism,  our  community  was  treated  to  such 
an  experience  in  the  article  which  former  Police 
Commissioner  of  New  York,  Theodore  Bingham. 
published  in  the  "North  American  Review"  of 
*The  American  Israelite,  September  16,  1909. 


246  SCROLLS 

September,  1908,  giving  us  a  reminder  on  the  occasion 
of  the  new  year  that  still  calls  for  introspection. 
Bingham  said  that  half  the  criminals  in  New  York 
are  Jews,  and  added  insult  to  injury  by  stating  that 
the  Jewish  criminals,  in  addition  to  being  devoid  of 
all  sense  of  morality,  lack  courage.  The  allegation 
was  so  patently  untrue  that  its  author  had  to  re- 
tract it,  but  the  injury  is  done,  and  it  may  fairly  be 
assumed  that  Bingham  has  a  number  of  sympathizers 
among  men  in  leading  public  positions  whose  pre- 
judice against  the  Jews  seeks  only  for  an  excuse,  that 
is  always  found  when  wanted,  whether  borne  out  by 
facts  or  not.  Sydney  Reid  admitted  this  sentiment 
frankly  in  an  article,  entitled  "Because  You  Are  a 
Jew,"  which  was  published  in  the  "Independent" 
(New  York)  of  November  26,  a  periodical  which 
showed  its  true  colors  three  years  ago  when  it  published 
an  article  from  the  venomous  pen  of  Goldwin  Smith, 
full  of  invectives  against  the  Jews,  and  refused  to  give 
the  Jewish  side  a  hearing.  It  might  appear  like  overesti- 
mating the  importance  of  an  insignificant  incident 
when,  in  this  connection,  it  is  reported  that  Recorder 
Mara,  of  Bayonne,  N.  J.  stated  at  the  trial  of  a 
Jewish  storekeeper  who  was  accused  by  an  Irish 
woman  of  having  stolen  her  purse  "Do  not  go  to  a 
Jew's  store,"  but  one  must  remember  that  similar 
sentiments  are  sufficiently  frequent  to  make  such  a 
little  incident  unfortunately  rather  typical.  The 
same  must  be  said  of  the  frequent  attacks  voiced  in 
Christian  denominational  papers  and  at  ecclesiastic 
gatherings.  The  demand  of  the  Jews  to  keep  Chris- 
tian religious  exercises  out  of  public  schools  was 


J  U  D  A  I  S  M    I  X   5669  247 


denounced  by  the  "Congregationalist  and  Christian 
World"  as  tactless  and  as  ingratitude  on  the  part  of 
the  Jews  who  have  "received  a  cordial  welcome  to 
this  country."  At  a  conference  of  the  Methodist 
Church,  South,  the  cause  of  prohibition  was  agitated 
by  an  attack  on  "negroes,  Jews  and  yellow-dog 
democrats,"  although  in  the  cause  of  prohibition  the 
Jews  are  in  no  way  responsible  for  its  lack  of  success. 
Rev.  David  J.  Burrell,  a  Presbyterian  minister  of 
New  York,  is  agitated  over  the  popularity  of  the 
Sunday  theater  and  he  knows  of  no  stronger  argu- 
ment than  an  attack  on  the  "Jewish  theatrical  syn- 
dicate as  responsible  for  that  agnosticism  which  fills 
the  theaters  and  empties  the  churches." 

Seeing  such  sentiments  in  countries  where  antisem- 
itism  never  was  a  political  force,  we  must  not  worden 
at  events  which  make  us  blush  for  our  age  in  countries 
where  the  ambitious  politician  finds  in  antisemitism  a 
smooth  road  to  political  success. 

This  is  particularly  the  case  in  Austria  and  Germany 
In  Austria,  where  the  fight  between  the  Germans  and 
the  Slavs  is  the  center  of  public  interest,  antisemitism 
is  a  handy  weapon  for  all  parties,  and  each  partv 
tries  to  purge  itself  of  the  suspicion  that  it  is  furthering 
the  cause  of  the  Jews.  This  feeling  led  to  a  bloody 
fight  between  Jewish  and  non-Jewish  fraternities  of 
the  University  of  Vienna.  November  10.  While 
youth  may  be  excused  for  its  hotheadedness.  il  is  ver\ 
discouraging  to  note  like  manifestations  in  bodies 
which,  by  the  nature  of  their  official  character,  should 
be  free  from  childish  demonstrations.  The  city 
council  of  Kger  passed  a  resolution  refusing  space  to 


248  SCROLLS 

Jewish  merchants  at  the  fairs.  The  city  council 
of  Teschen  even  prohibited  the  use  of  the  municipal 
bathhouse  to  the  Jews.  The  second  case  is  a  return 
to  medieval  ecclesiastic  legislation  based  on  the 
principle  that  social  intercourse  between  Jews  and 
Christians  must  be  prohibited,  and  the  former  goes 
even  beyond  medieval  ideas,  for  in  times  of  the  worst 
persecutions  the  German  federal  law  allowed  Jews 
free  access  to  fairs,  even  in  places  where  they  had 
no  right  of  residence.  The  Austrian  Reichsrat  has 
for  more  than  twenty  years  been  the  regular  theater 
for  the  rudest  antisemitic  attacks,  and  this  has  gone 
so  far  that  even  the  liberal  parties  refused  to  allow  a 
Jew  in  their  ranks.  Camill  Kuranda,  speaking  in 
the  Reichsrat  on  the  commercial  interests  of  Austria 
in  the  Orient,  was  interrupted  with  the  shout,  "Salz- 
gries,"  which  is  a  street  in  Vienna  in  which  Jewish 
merchants  are  prominent.  One  must  consider  the 
fact  that  Kuranda  occupied  a  prominent  position  in 
the  ministry,  that  his  father  was  a  leading  politician 
and  publicist,  who  nearly  half  a  century  ago  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Reichsrat  by  the  diet  of 
Lower  Austria,  in  order  to  understand  how  conditions 
have  deteriorated.  The  same  sad  deduction  may  be 
made  from  a  remark  in  the  Reichsrat  by  the  liberal 
member,  Pergelt,  when  during  an  address  he  was 
interrupted  by  a  Czech  clerical,  who  said  to  him, 
"Your  party  is  a  party  of  Jews,"  and  the  liberal 
replied,  "I  am  willing  to  make  you  a  present  of  the 
Jews." 

Germany  has  exactly  the  same  conditions,  although 
the  basis  of  the  antisemitic  sentiment  is  not  found  in 


JUDAISM    I  -V   5  6  6  9  249 

national  antagonism,  but  in  reactionary  tendencies, 
on  one  hand,  and  in  the  desire  of  the  liberals  to 
maintain  their  position  against  conservatives,  clericals 
and  socialists,  on  the  other.  There  antisemitism 
receives  official  encouragement.  Repeatedly  the 
question,  why  Jews  are  not  appointed  as  officers  in  the 
army,  has  been  discussed  in  the  Reichstag.  The  min- 
ister declared  that  there  was  no  legal  ground  for  such 
discrimination,  but  it  is,  nevertheless,  officially 
tolerated  and  encouraged  by  the  highest  authorities. 
The  ill-treatment  of  the  Jewish  soldier,  Maxim  Bloch, 
by  his  captain,  Count  Gerstorff,  which  led  to  the 
soldier's  suicide,  made  it  manifest  to  the  most  con- 
firmed optimist  why  Jews  are  denied  their  con- 
stitutional rights  in  the  German  army.  It  will 
certainly  be  interpreted  by  the  antisemites  as  an 
official  recognition  of  their  views  when  the  court 
of  Bamberg  decided  that  an  antisemite  had  a  right 
to  challenge  a  Jewish  expert  as  partial.  The  Prussian 
law  on  education,  which  went  into  effect  last  year, 
discriminates  against  Jewish  teachers  more  than 
was  the  case  before,  which  means  a  great  deal,  and 
the  sentiments  prevaiHng  in  the  teaching  staff  are 
illustrated  by  a  teacher  in  the  night  school  of  Berlin, 
who  compelled  his  pupils  to  write  down  the  statement 
that  the  Berlin  city  government  is  rotten  because  it 
muzzles  antisemites  in  the  city  council.  In  Breslau 
an  antisemitic  member  of  the  city  council  complained 
of  the  relatively  large  number  of  Jewish  girls  in  the 
city  library,  a  fact  which  i.s  easily  explained,  because  for 
such  positions  a  teachers'  certificate  is  required  and 
Jewish  girls,  even  when  they  possess  such  certificates, 


250  SCROLLS 

can  hardly  hope  to  obtain  employment  in  schools. 
Discrimination  against  Jewish  teachers  is  even  com- 
plained of  in  England,  although  in  that  case  it  is 
difficult  to  ascertain  the  fact.  France,  however  with 
her  boast  that  she  was  the  first  country  in  Europe  to 
grant  to  the  Jewrs  equality  and,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  Jews  there  are  an  insignificant  minority  still 
harbors  an  antisemitic  sentiment  which  as  in  Austria 
is  a  convenient  weapon  in  the  hands  of  clericalism. 
The  mutilation,  in  Paris,  of  the  monument  of  von 
Scheurer-Kestner  the  noble  and  courageous  champion 
of  Dreyfus  and  of  Bernard  Lazare,  in  Nimes,  and 
finally,  the  ovation  given  Gregory  on  the  occasion  of 
the  anniversary  of  his  attempt  on  the  life  of  Dreyfus, 
show  that  the  final  settlement  of  the  Dreyfus  affair 
and  the  separation  of  state  and  church  have  not  as 
ye  disposed  of  the  policy  inaugurated  under  clerical 
auspices  by  Drumont  in  1886,  a  sad  commentary  on 
the  boast  of  Renan,  made  in  1883,  that  the  so-called 
Jewish  question  had  been  definitely  settled  by  France 
in  1791. 

It  is  rather  discouraging  that  even  in  countries  which 
have  a  very  small  Jewish  population,  and  in  others 
which  are  still  open  to  Jewish  immigration  anti- 
Jewish  sentiment  is  occasionally  found.  An  officer 
in  Johannesburg  told  a  native  who  had  a  disagreement 
with  a  Jewish  merchant  from  whom  he  had  bought  a 
wagon  "Next  time  you  ought  to  go  to  a  decent  place 
of  business  and  not  to  a  Jew-shop."  Similar  senti- 
ments are  occasionally  expressed  in  the  local  papers  of 
South  Africa,  and,  while  not  very  important,  they 
show  that  in  a  country  where  the  Jew  is  no  more  of 


JUD  A  ISM   IX   5669  251 

an  alien  than  any  other  white  man,  and  were  the  influx 
of  the  white  population  should  be  greeted  with 
satisfaction,  the  Jew  is  still  considered  as  an  intruder 
The  same  is  the  case  in  Argentina,  where  the  Jews 
were  denounced  as  socialists  because  some  of  them 
participated  in  a  socialist  parade,  and  even  in  Brazil, 
where  the  Jewish  population  is  very  insignificant  in 
numbers  and,  as  far  as  known,  not  organized  into 
congregations,  a  German  paper  denounced  the 
presidential  candidate,  David  Mortizsohn  Campista, 
as  a  Jew,  which  is  not  even  known  to  be  a  fact. 
Even  little  Denmark,  with  its  3,000  Jews,  in  a  popu- 
lation of  2,600,000,  witnessed  an  agitation  against 
overcrowding  in  the  poor  Jewish  quarter  of  Copen- 
hagen. 

It  would  be  wrong,  however,  to  dwell  on  the 
unpleasant  side  of  last  year's  history  without  em- 
phasizing the  many  features  which  show  that  we  have 
a  full  right  to  believe  that  humanity  is,  after  all, 
marching  onward.  Congress  made  an  attempt  to 
prove  that  the  pledge  to  secure  for  American  citizens 
freedom  of  travel  in  Russia  was  meant  seriously  by 
passing  a  resolution  (March  3)  to  enforce  this  demand, 
and  a  similar  resolution,  introduced  in  the  Legislature 
of  Rhode  Island  by  Mr.  Harry  Cutler,  shows  that 
energetic  action  on  the  part  of  the  Jews  will  help  to 
remove  a  condition  which  is  a  disgrace,  perhaps  even 
more  to  the  government  of  the  United  States  than  to 
the  Jewish  citizens.  The  appointment  of  Mr.  Oscar 
S.  Straus  as  minister  to  Turkey,  a  position  which  he 
had  held  twice  before  and  the  appearance  of  President 
Taft  in  Temple  "Rodef  Shalom,"  of  Pittsburgh, 


252  SCROLLS 

testify  to  the  progress  made  by  the  Jewish  community 
in  this  country,  which  will  keep  up  with  the  constant 
progress  in  numbers  and  in  culture,  apparent  every 
day.  The  difficulties  placed  in  the  way  of  immigrants 
by  Commissioner  Williams,  which  appea*-  in  the  large 
number  of  rejections  and  in  the  arbitrary  rule  that 
every  immigrant  must  possess  $25,  works  hardship  on 
Jews,  although  it  was  not  devised  to  keep  them  out. 
Aside  from  the  influence  of  organized  labor,  it  was  very 
likely  the  vicious  element  among  the  Italians,  promi- 
nent in  many  cases  of  murder  and  blackmail,  which 
gave  moral  justification  to  the  rigorous  policy  in 
dealing  with  immigrants.  The  efforts  of  Jewish 
representatives,  among  them  that  tried  veteran,  Simon 
Wolf,  have  already  been  in  part  successful  in  checking 
the  zeal  of  Mr.  Williams. 

Canada  shows  a  somewhat  less  satisfactory  state. 
In  the  province  of  Quebec  the  school  question  works 
hardships  on  the  Jews,  although  it  is  bound  to  be 
solved,  sooner  or  later,  with  the  increasing  population. 
The  present  status,  which  divides  the  schools  into  a 
Catholic  and  a  Protestant  system,  thereby  making 
Jewish  pupils  appear  as  merely  tolerated,  and  bars 
Jews  from  serving  on  the  school  board,  is  bound  to 
cease  as  the  Jewish  population  increases  and  a  native 
element  grows  up.  The  difficulty  is  chiefly  due  to  the 
clerical  aspirations  of  the  French  element  which,  also 
in  other  ways,  is  hostile  to  Jews.  It  would,  however, 
be  unjustifiable  pessimism  to  look  upon  Canada 
otherwise  than  as  a  land  of  promise  for  the  Jews. 

Honors  bestowed  on  individuals  were  not  wanting 
even  in  times  of  the  worst  persecution,  but  it  is  a  mat- 


J  U  D  A  I  S  M   I  N   5  6  6  9  253 

ter  of  historic  significance  that  the  year  5669  wit- 
nessed in  England  the  first  Jew  enter  His  Majesty's 
cabinet  and  thus  add  another  link  to  the  chain  of 
progress  marked  by  the  election  of  David  Salomons  as 
sheriff  of  London  and  Middlesex  in  1835,  and  by  the 
entrance  of  Baron  Lionel  de  Rothschild  into  the 
House  of  Commons  in  1858.  Even  the  fact  that 
Chief  Rabbi  Adler,  on  his  seventieth  birthday  anni- 
versary, was  decorated  by  the  king  with  the  royal 
Victorian  order,  and  was  given  the  honorary  title  of 
doctor  of  letters  by  the  University  of  Oxford,  is  to  be 
recorded  with  satisfaction  and  is  something  to  cheer 
us  up  at  a  time  when  the  antialien  movement  is  con- 
tinued with  the  evident  desire  of  checking  Jewish 
immigration,  and  when,  on  the  occasion  of  an  anarch- 
istic crime,  a  motion  for  new  antialien  legislation  was 
introduced  in  the  House  of  Commons  (February  25.) 
The  historic  habit  wrhich  traces  every  imaginable  ill 
back  to  the  Jews,  has  not  been  absent  in  France  this 
year.  The  criminal  career  of  Madame  Steinheil, 
which  seemed  to  transform  the  most  fanciful  inven- 
tions of  the  yellow  novel  into  reality,  was  seized  upon 
by  the  anti-Dreyfus  element  as  a  convenient  occasion 
to  return  to  their  old  game.  President  Faure  had 
died  in  the  presence  of  Madame  Steinheil,  his  hand 
grasping  the  hair  of  his  lady  friend.  This  matter  which 
was  suppressed  at  the  time  on  account  of  its  compromis- 
ing effect  on  the  President's  character,  was  now  freely 
published.  It  gave  at  once  to  the  anti- Dreyfus  ele- 
ment an  opportunity  for  saying  that  Faure  had  been 
assassinated  by  order  of  the  Dreyfus  syndicate  because 
he  would  not  consent  to  a  reopening  of  the  case. 


254  SCROLLS 

The  persistence  of  that  charge  is  rather  disheartening 
and,  coupled  with  some  minor  incidents  like  the  chal- 
lenging of  Jewish  judges  by  the  antisemite  Delahaye 
(June  25),  taking  us  back  to  the  early  days  of  antisem- 
itic  agitation  in  Germany,  and  an  attack  made  on  a 
Jewish  official  in  the  department  of  the  navy,  show 
that  reactionaries  still  figure  on  the  efficacy  of  the  cry, 
"A  bas  les  Juifs!"  Considering  the  fickleness  of  the 
French  character,  already  observed  by  Julius  Caesar, 
the  student  of  Jewish  history  must  not  treat  such 
incidents  too  lightly.  Of  the  French  colonies, 
Algeria  has  been  absolutely  quiet  during  the  past  year, 
and  the  days  of  the  gutter  politicians,  who  were 
responsible  for  the  riots  of  1899,  seem  to  be  over  for 
the  present.  In  Tunis,  however,  conditions  are  less 
certain.  It  would  not  be  fair  to  make  much  capital 
of  an  attack  on  the  Jews  of  Susa  in  December,  as  such 
cases  of  disorder  are  apt  to  crop  out  at  any  time  in 
countries  that  have  a  semi-savage  population  chafing 
under  foreign  rule,  but  the  question  of  the  naturali- 
zation of  the  Jews,  which  is  bound  to  come  up  sooner 
or  later,  may  create  other  serious  complications,  for, 
even  if  the  French  government  should  not  grant 
to  the  Jews  wholesale  naturalization  as  it  did  in 
Algeria  in  1870,  the  Jew  as  an  assimilative  element 
will  become  a  political  factor,  while  the  native  Arab 
will  never  submit  to  French  domination. 

The  political  conditions  in  Germany  did  not  pro- 
duce anything  remarkable  beyond  the  discussion  in 
the  Reichstag,  on  the  unconstitutional  exclusion  of 
Jews  from  the  position  of  army  officers  (April  17-20) 
which  has  been  already  noticed.  The  retirement  of 


J  U  D  A  I  S  M    IX   5669  255 

Chancellor  von  Buelow  does  not  affect  the  Jews 
directly,  although  indirectly  it  was  due  to  the  success 
of  a  combination  formed  by  the  conservatives  and 
the  clericals,  of  whom  the  former  are  open,  and  the 
latter  secret  enemies  of  the  Jews,  and  as  such  it  is 
rather  unfavorable.  His  successor,  von  Bethman- 
Hollweg,  was — one  might  almost  say — denounced  as 
a  Jew.  This  was  subsequently  disproven,  but  it  is  to 
be  chronicled  with  satisfaction  that  as  minister  of  the 
interior  he  ordered  that  the  annoyance  of  Jewish 
guests  at  the  seashore  resort  of  Borkum  must  cease. 
In  the  various  German  states  the  relation  of  the  state 
to  Jewish  religious  affairs  came  up  tor  action  in 
several  cases.  A  liberal  member  of  the  Prussian  diet 
demanded  an  increase  of  the  state  subsidy  for  instruc- 
tion in  Jewish  religion,  which  was  also  demanded  by 
the  Union  of  German  Congregations,  but  was  refused. 
Of  more  significance  is  it  that  a  conservative  member 
in  the  Prussian  diet  told  the  Liberal,  Gothein,  who 
succeeded  the  late  Theodore  Barth  as  president  of 
the  society  for  combatting  antisemitism,  that  he 
ought  to  sell  his  liberalism  to  his  Jewish  friends  as 
junk,  \\hile  this  rudeness  on  the  part  of  a  man 
who  is  known  for  his  rowdy  manners  is  of  no  conse- 
quence, it  does  contain  some  truth.  Developments  of 
the  last  thirty  years,  so  impressively  presented  by 
Sudermann  in  his  "Sturmgeselle  Sokrates,"  seem  to 
indicate  that  liberalism  is  fast  waning,  and  that  the 
powers  which  are  fighting  for  supremacy  in  German 
politics  are  clerical  conservatism  on  one  hand  and 
radical  socialism  on  the  other.  The  governments  are, 
to  put  it  mildly,  not  directly  sympathetic  to  the 


256  SCROLLS 

Jews,  and  the  expulsion  of  inoffensive  Galician  Jews 
who  made  a  living  as  peddlers  in  Magdeburg,  and  an 
agitation  against  foreign,  mostly  Galician  Jews, who  are 
working  in  cigar  factories  in  Offenbach,  are  as  clearly 
violations  of  international  ethics  as  they  are  manifes- 
tations of  anti-Jewish  sentiment.  A  peculiar  con- 
trast to  this  attitude  is  found  in  the  paternal  interest 
taken  by  the  governments  of  the  smaller  states  in  the 
spiritual  affairs  of  the  Jews.  The  government  of 
Bavaria  advertising  the  vacancy  of  the  rabbineate 
of  Duerckheim,  inserted  the  clause  that  the  candidate 
should  belong  to  a  "Zeitgemaess  liberate  Richtung," 
a  rather  comical  reminder  of  the  struggles  for  eman- 
cipation in  1838,  when  the  government  met  the  claims 
for  civic  and  political  equality  with  the  demand  that 
the  Jews  should  first  assimilate  with  western  civiliza- 
tion. In  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Baden  the  police 
arrested  a  Jewish  boy  for  not  attending  the  religious 
instruction  to  which  the  father,  as  an  orthodox,  object- 
ed on  the  ground  of  conscientious  scruples. 

While  there  is  not  the  slighest  outlook  for  radical 
improvement  of  conditions  in  Austria,  as  long  as 
clericalism  occupies  such  a  powerful  position,  there  is 
hardly  any  reason  for  complaint.  The  government 
evidently  tries  to  reconcile  all  factions  of  the  popula- 
tion with  occasional  concessions.  It  appointed  a  Jew 
as  adviser  to  the  minister  of  worship,  but  as  usually  is 
the  case,  in  the  shape  of  a  compromise.  The  ap- 
pointee Dr.  Solomon  Frankfurter,  who  was  an 
official  of  the  Vienna  public  library,  was  transferred 
to  the  ministry  "for  temporary  employment,"  and 
thus  the  Jews  received  the  compliment  that  like  the 


J  U  D  A  I  S  M   I  N   5669  257 

Catholics  and  Protestants  they  have  a  representative 
in  the  ministry  and  the  clericals  are  spared  the 
humiliation  of  having  Judaism  put  on  an  equal  footing 
with  Catholicism,  because  Dr.  Frankfurter  is  still  a 
librarian  and  not  a  ministerial  councillor.  There  were 
other  appointments  to  prominent  positions  in  the 
postal  service,  in  the  ministries  and  on  the  bench, 
gazetted  during  the  last  year,  which  show  that  even 
the  antisemites  are  satisfied  with  the  theoretical 
denunciation  of  the  power  of  the  Jews  in  politics. 
The  sore  on  the  body  politic  of  the  Austrian  Jews  is  the 
condition  of  their  coreligionists  in  Galicia.  The 
government  has  finally  announced  the  summoning 
of  a  commission  to  deliberate  on  the  causes  of  the 
terrible  distress  prevailing  among  the  Galician 
Jews,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  for  more  than  forty 
years  they  possessed  what  is  the  dream  of  the  Russian 
Jews,  full  political  and  civic  equality.  This  is  per- 
haps an  installment  concession  to  the  frequent  com- 
plaints that  the  rights  of  the  Galician  Jews  exist  only 
on  paper.  Such  proved  to  be  the  case  in  the  town 
of  Hruszow.  The  Jews  were  excluded  from  the  use 
of  the  municipal  forest  and  pasture,  and  the  provincial 
authorities  confirmed  this  clearly  illegal  act,  so  that 
it  required  an  appeal  to  the  supreme  court  to  guarantee 
the  rights  which  the  constitution  vouchsafes  to  Jew- 
ish citizens.  The  cases  of  kidnaping  girls  and  taking 
them  to  monasteries  where  the  parents  can  not  recover 
them,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  such  an  act  is  a  crime 
punishable  with  a  sentence  of  five  years  in  the  peni- 
tentiary, are  so  frequent  that  it  is  not  worth  while 
recording  them.  As  a  fitting  counterpiece  it  may  be 


258  SCROLLS 

quoted  that  a  Jewish  boy,  the  son  of  a  Jewish  mother 
and  a  Christian  father,  who  was  brought  up  as  a  Jew, 
but  according  to  the  law  could  not  declare  himself  a 
Jew  until  he  was  fourteen  years  old,  was  refused  this 
permission  by  an  official  who,  like  most  members  of 
his  class,  belongs  to  the  nobility  which  is  hand  in 
glove  with  the  Jesuits.  At  the  foundling  asylum  of 
Bobrek,  which  is  maintained  with  provincial  funds, 
Jewish  children  are  raised  as  Christians,  and  all 
protests  thereto  have  been  unavailing.  Hungary  has 
not  yet  passed  the  new  electoral  bill  which  is  to  en- 
large the  franchise,  but  opposition  to  it  is  already 
being  voiced,  for  by  the  preference  given  to  those  who 
know  the  Magyar  language,  the  Jews  will  gain  out 
of  all  proportion  to  the  rest  of  the  population.  There 
is  also  a  decision  wanting  in  the  case  of  the  Jews  of 
Bosnia.  After  the  annexation  of  this  province 
to  Austria,  a  representative  form  of  government  was 
promised,  composed  of  representatives  of  the  various 
elements  of  the  population  grouped  according  to  their 
religion.  Contradictory  reports  had  it  at  one  time 
that  Jews  were  to  be  excluded,  at  another  that  they 
were  to  have  one  or  two  representatives.  The  matter 
has  not  yet  been  decided ,  but  the  government  has  reason 
for  reconciling  all  elements  of  the  population,  par- 
ticularly because  the  Roman  Catholics  are,  as  usual, 
oblivious  to  all  political  considerations  in  furthering 
their  own  interests.  Thus  the  archbishop  of  Ser- 
ajewo  has  repeatedly  been  guilty  of  abetting  the  forc- 
ible conversion  of  Mohammedan  girls  to  Christianity. 
In  Galicia,  when  the  victims  are  Jews,  this  is  an 
easy  matter,  but  in  Bosnia,  with  a  Mohammedan 


JUDAISM  IN  5669  259 


population  which  is  apt  to  cause  serious  trouble,  the 
matter  is  not  so  simple. 

The  Talmudic  motto  quoted  in  the  opening  para- 
graph of  this  review  can  be  nowhere  better  adapted 
than  to  conditions  in  Russia,  where  we  have  neither 
cases  of  persecution,  to  which  we  have  become  ac- 
customed periodically  for  the  last  twenty-eight  years 
nor  any  signs  of  progress  to  record.  To  the  memorial, 
to  the  council  of  ministers  on  the  condition  of  the 
Jews,  written  in  1906  and  only  recently  published,  we 
need  not  refer.  It  is  a  dead  letter  and  would  not 
have  helped  materially  even  if  its  mild  suggestions 
of  improvement  would  have  been  carried  into  effect. 
A  really  important  document  is  a  book  on  anti- 
semitism  published  by  Count  I  wan  Tolstoy,  the  former 
minister  of  education.  This  book  shows  that  there 
are  even  in  the  circles  of  the  Russian  bureaucracy 
statesmen  of  wide  vision  and  of  sound  information 
Count  Tolstoy,  who  is  far  removed  from  the  morbid 
sentimentality  of  his  famous  namesake,  the  novelist 
bluntly  says  that  restrictive  laws  are  in  one  way  in- 
effective and  in  another  directly  harmful.  People 
of  his  caliber,  however,  must  be  very  rare,  to  judge 
from  the  real  conditions  which  have  existed  in  Russia 
during  the  past  year.  The  existing  restrictions  were 
maintained  in  individual  instances  with  unnecessary 
rigor,  and  among  the  population  there  is  noticeable 
no  sign  of  a  broader  conception  of  the  right  of  the 
Jews  as  human  beings.  The  Jews  of  Bokhara  who, 
at  the  time  of  the  annexation  of  their  territory,  were 
given  freedom  of  travel  and  have  done  a  great  deal 
for  the  advancement  of  the  commercial  interests  of 


260  SCROLLS 

Russia  in  Central  Asia,  are  now  being  placed  on  the 
same  level  with  other  Russian  Jews.  The  restrictions 
on  the  right  of  residence  of  Jews  in  Kiev  and  other 
places  have  been  carried  out  with  that  inhumanity 
against  which  even  the  antisemite,  Arnold  White 
protested  at  one  time  in  a  conversation  with  Pobied- 
noszoff,  and  the  lawrs  restricting  the  residence  of 
Jews  in  the  rural  districts  have  been  so  interpreted 
that  Jews  of  Kiev  and  of  Riga  are  not  permitted  to 
spend  the  summer  in  the  resorts  on  the  outskirts  of 
the  city  of  their  residence.  Even  health  resorts  in  the 
Causasus  were  closed  entirely  to  the  Jews,  and  only 
after  great  efforts  were  made  accessible  to  them  under 
the  most  oppressive  and  humiliating  restrictions. 
The  percentage  of  Jewish  students  in  secondary  and 
academic  institutions  is  not  only  maintained  but  is 
interpreted  in  the  narrowest  sense  possible.  Jewish 
actors  and  musicians  are  not  allowed  to  appear  outside 
the  Pale  of  residence,  and  in  this  way  a  volume  could 
be  filled  with  regulations  that  remind  one  of  the  dark 
ages.  Bureaucracy  occasionally  assumes  an  attitude 
of  regret,  the  minister  of  commerce,  Timiriazeff,  de- 
claring that  these  measures  are  due  to  the  revolution- 
ary inclinations  of  the  Jews.  How  far  this  inter- 
pretation goes  is  illustrated  by  a  term  of  seven  years 
in  the  reformatory  given  to  a  boy  of  fourteen,  who 
was  found  guilty  of  being  a  member  of  the  Poale 
Zion  Society.  It  must  be  admitted  with  satisfaction 
that  the  government  is  at  least  fair  in  one  respect. 
It  treats  liberals  and  orthodox  alike.  The  Orthodox 
Congregational  Union,  "Keneset  Israel,"  which  was 
founded  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  the  traditions 


JUDAISM   IN    566  9  261 

in  the  education  of  the  youth,  and  which  condemned 
the  sympathy  of  the  young  people  for  the  revolution, 
was  also  dissolved.  The  authorities  are  remarkably 
sensitive  when  their  fairness  to  the  Jews  is  called  into 
question.  Mr.  Iwanowicki,  the  government  rabbi  of 
Odessa,  made  a  public  statement  opposing  the  charges 
brought  against  the  Jewish  community,  saying  that 
such  charges  might  lead  to  bloody  riots.  The  gov- 
ernor of  the  city  sentenced  him  to  three  days'  deten- 
tion at  his  home  for  having  libeled  the  Russian  nation 
by  suggesting  that  a  Russian  could  ever  be  guilty  of 
an  act  of  violence  against  a  Jew.  This  impudent  atti- 
tude perhaps  underlies  the  regular  practice  of  the 
Czar,  who  quashes  the  light  sentences  imposed  on 
such  as  are  convicted  of  participation  in  the  porgoms 
of  1905.  The  conception  of  the  courts  in  such  cases 
is  somewhat  humorously  brought  home  to  the  ob- 
server by  a  finding  in  the  trial  of  the  pogrom  riotres 
of  Mariopol,  where  the  court  declared  that  the 
fact  whether  there  was  a  pogrom  four  years  ago  could 
not  be  ascertained.  It  was  indeed  proven  that  the 
thirty  Jews  who  were  killed  at  that  time  were  still 
dead,  while  the  demolished  houses  had  been  repaired. 
The  Duma  does  not  seem  to  have  the  courage  to  take 
up  the  question  of  the  Jews,  and  what  little  has  been 
discussed  about  Jewish  affairs,  is  of  a  very  hostile 
nature.  The  representatives  of  the  "Black  Hundred" 
attacked  the  constitutionality  of  the  order  issued  by 
Stolypin  in  1907,  to  leave  Jews  who  reside  outside 
of  the  Pale  undisturbed  until  the  question  should  be 
settled  by  law.  and  other  attacks  were  made  on  the 
Jews  for  dodging  military  service  and  for  engaging 


262  SCROLL  S 

in  white  slave  traffic.  Finland,  which  now  has 
autonomy,  has  not  yet  passed  the  promised  bill  on 
the  rights  of  the  Jews,  and  whatever  is  heard  con- 
cerning the  measure  is  rather  discouraging.  The 
only  measure  which  has  become  law  is  the  prohibition 
of  Shehitah,  for  which  a  Finnish  woman  made  propa- 
ganda at  the  congress  for  the  prevention  of  cruelty 
to  animals,  in  London,  declaring  the  framers  of  this 
measure  to  have  been  actuated  entirely  by  humane 
motives. 

Rumania  presents  exactly  the  same  conditions  as 
Russia.  There  is  no  improvement,  and  politicians 
still  carry  on  an  agitation  against  the  Jews.  Premier 
Bratiano,  the  son  of  the  statesman  who  guided 
Rumania's  destinies  in  1879,  when  Europe  forced  the 
newly  created  state  to  grant  her  Jews  equal  rights, 
gave  one  decision  in  their  favor  when  he  annulled 
the  order  of  expulsion  from  the  rural  communities  of 
the  district  of  Bacau,  promulgated  by  the  local 
prefect.  It  must  also  be  recorded  with  some  satis- 
faction that  the  Jewish  sufferers  from  the  agrarian 
riots  in  1907  were  awarded  damages,  and  in  this 
respect  they  are  more  fortunate  than  their  Russian 
brothers,  who  were  always  refused  damages  by  the 
courts  in  pogrom  trials.  On  the  other  hand,  a  govern- 
ment chemist,  who  was  notoriously  unfair  in  his 
dealings  with  Jewish  wine  merchants,  obtained  a 
judgment  on  the  plea  of  defamation  against  Jewish 
merchants  who  had  completely  established  their 
case.  The  plea  made  by  the  president  of  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce  in  Jassy,  that  the  exclusion  of  Jews  from 
the  chamber  was  harmful  to  the  interests  of  commerce, 


/  U  D  A  I  S  M  IN    5669  263 

had  no  practical  result,  and  the  audience  which  the 
Queen  granted  to  Fraeulein  Bertha  Pappenheim,  of 
Frankfurt-a-M.,  when  she  visited  Rumania  on  her 
mission  to  suppress  the  white  slave  traffic,  is  of  no  con- 
sequence. The  crowned  poetess,  for  political  reasons, 
indorses  the  antisemitic  acts  of  her  government,  for 
if  she  were  to  do  otherwise  the  throne  of  King  Charles 
would  be  no  more  secure  than  is  the  crown  of  his 
neighbor,  King  Peter  of  Servia. 

Turkey  and  the  States  of  the  Balkans  are  passing 
through  a  period  of  transition.  It  is  a  matter  of 
satisfaction  that  the  Turkish  Parliament  has  four 
Jewish  members,  and  that  other  Jews  have  obtained 
prominent  positions  in  the  government  service,  but 
it  would  scarcely  be  too  pessimistic  to  regard  develop- 
ments with  some  doubt.  In  Greece  there  wras  an 
attack  on  the  Jews  of  Janina,  therefore  the  Greeks 
in  Macedonia,  Asia  Minor  and  Bulgaria  give  good 
cause  for  apprehension  by  their  attitude  toward  the 
Jews.  Bulgaria  occasionally  furnishes  us  a  small 
riot  and  an  antisemitic  speech  in  Parliament,  while 
the  newly-made  King  continues  to  display  great 
courtesy  in  dealing  with  Jews,  just  as  in  Turkey  the 
Grand  Rabbi  has  been  treated  with  a  great  deal  of 
distinction  by  the  new  Sultan  and  the  authorities. 
In  Palestine,  however,  the  prohibition  of  immigration 
which,  although  promulgated  in  1882,  has  remained  a 
dead  letter,  continues  in  spite  of  assurances  that  the 
new  constitution  will  not  discriminate  against  Jews, 
foreign  or  native,  in  any  way.  The  developments  in 
Morocco  also  indicate  a  state  of  latent  rebellion. 
Occasionally  expressions  of  good  will  toward  the 


264  SCROLLS 

Jews  by  the  grand  vizier  and  some  of  the  governors 
are  evidently  made  merely  for  the  purpose  of  showing 
that  Morocco  is  civilized.  These  savages  are  shrewd 
enough  to  understand  that  the  same  governments 
which  do  not  treat  their  own  Jews  with  fairness  would 
be  wrilling  to  seize  the  opportunity  of  encroaching 
upon  the  sovereignity  of  Morocco  on  behalf  of  human- 
ity when  Jews  are  mobbed.  Mulai  Hand  is  by  no 
means  sure  of  his  throne,  although  the  so-called 
"Reef  pirates"  are  giving  the  Spaniards  a  hard  fight. 
Spain,  in  spite  of  the  queer  fancy  of  Senator  Pulido, 
who  wishes  to  repatriate  all  Jews  of  Spanish  descent, 
will  not  fight  for  the  sake  of  the  Jews,  and  within  her 
own  boundary  lines  their  lot  would  not  be  very 
pleasant  if  Senator  Pulido's  fancy  should  ever  be 
realized,  for  it  has  already  provoked  a  protest  on  the 
clerical  side.  Persia  is  at  present  in  the  throes  of 
a  crisis  such  that  the  condition  of  the  Jews  is  abso- 
lutely unascertainable.  Experiences  that  go  back 
to  the  third  century  show,  however,  that  with  every 
reawakening  of  chauvinism  in  Persia  a  persecution 
of  the  Jews  has  occurred. 

It  may  be  a  more  favorable  sign  of  the  times 
that  during  the  last  two  years  greater  activity  has 
prevailed  within  the  Jewish  fold.  Both  Liberals  and 
Orthodox  are  trying  to  strengthen  their  position. 
The  most  notable  fact  in  America  is  the  founding 
of  two  teachers'  seminaries,  one  in  New  York  and 
one  in  Cincinnati.  The  real  Orthodox  also  display- 
considerable  activity  in  establishing  charitable  and  edu- 
cational institutions,  and  their  Talmud-torahs,  par- 
ticularly in  the  large  cities,  show  great  improvement. 


JV  DA  I  S  M    I  X    5  6  6  9  ?65 

It  is  also  a  matter  worth  recording  that  the  scheme 
of  holding  a  convention  of  Talmudtorah  teachers  was 
at  least  publicly  discussed. 

Lord  Swaythling  is  in  earnest  in  his  appointment  of 
an  Orthodox  chief  rabbi,  and  just  before  retiring  from 
the  presidency  of  the  Board  of  Shehitah,  he  declared 
he  would  spend  825,000  in  fighting  all  attempts  to 
break  the  authority  of  that  board.  How  much  he 
has  actually  spent  is  not  kno\\n,  but  it  is  a  fact  that 
the  opposition  was  once  again  broken.  In  Germany 
the  attempt  to  establish  an  organization  of  Jewish 
communities,  the  equivalent  of  the  Protestant 
"Landeskirche,"  seems  definitely  buried.  At  the  last 
convention  of  the  Union  of  German  Jewish  Congre- 
gations, held  May  16,  another  draft  of  a  bill  for 
the  establishment  of  such  an  organization  was  finally 
disposed  of,  although  the  opponents  had  the  courtesy 
to  refer  it  to  a  committee  together  with  a  resolution 
that  the  question  be  studied  as  to  how  such  a  union 
might  be  established  without  interfering  with  the 
autonomy  of  the  congregations,  which  is  equivalent 
to  the  problem  in  the  German  proverb,  to  manu- 
facture a  knife  without  a  blade,  of  which  the  handle 
is  missing.  There  does  not  seem  to  be  any  better 
prospect  of  such  a  congregational  union  in  Austria, 
where  it  also  has  been  advocated,  although  the 
Austrian  government  is  not  so  strongly  opposed  to 
the  strengthening  of  Jewish  organizations  as  is  the 
Prussian.  The  mistake  made  in  Austria  was  that  the 
promoters  of  this  scheme  wished  to  make  it  com- 
pulsory, to  which  the  Orthodox  minority  objected 
and,  under  present  conditions,  with  two  antisemites 


266  SCROLLS 

in  the  ministry,  there  is  hardly  any  hope  that  the 
government  will  introduce  legislative  measures  to 
create  such  an  organization,  which  it  avoided  in  1890, 
when  the  law  on  the  Jewish  communities,  at  present 
in  force,  was  passed.  In  Hungary,  we  find  a  like 
condition.  The  Liberals  would  have  a  Jewish 
organization  which  could  speak  officially  in  the  name 
of  all  the  Jews  of  the  country,  but  the  Orthodox  are 
bitterly  opposed  to  it.  The  minister  of  worship, 
Count  Apponyi,  is  a  Clerical,  and  naturally  his  sym- 
pathies are  rather  on  the  Orthodox  side,  and  in  this 
instance  quite  properly.  It  is  strange  that  the 
Liberals  have  not  learned  the  lesson  taught  by  the 
congress  of  1868,  which  resulted  in  an  open  schism, 
where  formerly  there  were  only  parties.  France  is 
more  fortunate,  owing  to  the  separation  of  State 
and  Church,  and  the  Jews,  who,  before  this  principle 
became  a  law,  also  antagonized  it,  are  now  quite 
satisfied  with  it.  The  separation  seems  to  have  made 
for  the  strengthening  of  liberalism.  The  Liberal 
community  gives  signs  of  vigorous  life,  while  an 
Orthodox  synagog,  established  in  the  fashionable 
quarter  for  the  purpose  of  counteracting  the  influence 
of  the  Liberal  union,  will  have  to  be  closed.  The 
official  Jewish  community,  however,  remains  Ortho- 
dox, and  the  last  rabbinical  convention  was  unable 
to  pass  a  vote  on  the  most  urgently  needed  reforms 
of  the  marriage  law. 

It  is  rather  to  the  credit  of  the  Russian  Jew  that 
the  rabbinical  convention  held  at  Wilna,  May  3-11, 
showed  a  complete  grasp  of  the  situation  in  the  reso- 
lutions which  it  passed,  and  also  in  the  fact  that  the 


J  U  D  A  I S  M  IN   5669  267 

Hasidic  element  went  hand  in  hand  with  their  bitterest 
opponents,  the  representatives  of  rabbinic  Orthodoxy. 
A  severe  crisis  always  has  the  beneficial  result  of 
uniting  different  elements. 

Zionism  is  passing  through  a  great  trial.  It  is  not 
becoming  an  observer  to  be  a  partisan,  but  even 
Zionists  will  not  deny  the  fact  that  the  constitution 
granted  in  Turkey  has  placed  them  face  to  face  with 
a  very  grave  problem.  The  idea  of  autonomy  for  a 
Jewish  state — or  by  whatever  name  it  may  be  called — 
in  Palestine  is,  as  far  as  present  indications  go,  with- 
out any  prospect  of  realization.  Some  Zionist  leaders 
have  indeed  declared  that  the  charter  was  not  essen- 
tial, but  if  they  should  settle  in  Palestine  as  individuals 
and — as  has  been  demanded  by  leading  Turkish 
politicians,  both  Jews  and  Mohammedans — without 
any  political  aspirations,  then  this  movement  would 
be  merely  a  move  toward  emigration  into  countries 
offering  favorable  conditions.  Not  even  the  most 
chauvinistic  Zionist  will  claim  that  from  an  economic 
point  of  view  the  present  conditions  in  Palestine  are 
favorable  to  immigration,  and  consequently  the  ques- 
tion would  simply  have  to  be  judged  from  the  political 
point  of  view.  That  in  this  respect  Palestine  is  more 
attractive  than  America,  South  Africa,  or  Australia 
can  surely  not  be  maintained.  The  calling  of  the  next 
Zionist  congress  to  Constantinople,  now  abandoned, 
carried  with  it  the  idea  of  a  demonstration,  and  it  will 
be  wise  to  await  the  results. 

The  Territorialists  have  profited  from  the  em- 
barrassment of  their  Zionist  opponents.  The  scheme 
of  a  settlement  in  Tripoli,  for  which,  rather  strangely 


268  SCROLLS 

and  perhaps  for  the  sake  of  euphemism,  the  ancient 
appellation  of  Cyrenaica  was  used,  has  been  definitely 
abandoned.  The  latest  favorite  scheme  is  the  open- 
ing of  Mesopotamia.  The  Turkish  resolution  not  to 
complicate  political  difficulties  by  the  creation  of  a 
new  national  question  applies  to  this  scheme  just  as 
well  as  it  does  to  that  of  Palestine.  It  has,  however 
the  advantage  of  greater  economic  promises,  although 
in  such  questions  experience  has  taught  us  that 
forecasters  may  be  swayed  just  as  well  by  unjustified 
optimism  as  by  unjustified  pessimism.  It  is  for- 
tunate at  least  that  for  the  present  the  conditions 
requiring  a  new  area  of  settlement  are  not  as  acute 
as  they  were  up  to  two  years  ago. 

Considering  the  just  complaint  about  the  lack  of 
interest  shown  by  Jews  in  literary  productions,  it  is 
rather  remarkable  to  record  the  literature  of  one  year. 
To  the  reviewer  who  has  to  condense  his  observations 
into  the  space  of  one  article,  this  becomes  impossible. 
Even  the  enumeration  of  several  hundred  titles  would 
make  a  catalog  and  not  a  review,  therefore  we  have  to 
limit  ourselves  to  matters  of  general  interest.  The 
most  gratifying  fact  is  the  continuation  of  Ben 
Jehuda's  great  dictionary,  of  which  the  first  volume 
has  appeared.  Another  inportant  announcement  is 
the  revival  of  the  "Mekize  Nirdamim  Society,"  which 
will,  as  heretofore,  publish  old  works  from  manu- 
script. The  influence  of  progressive  ideas  on  Ortho- 
doxy is  noted  with  satisfaction  from  the  regular  pub- 
lications of  the  Juedische  Literarische  Gesellschaft  in 
Frankfurt-a-M.  which,  while  biased  by  apologetic 
tendencies  in  some  parts,  has  given  us  in  its  year 


J  I'  D  A  IS  If    IX   5669  269 

books  very  valuable  monographs.  Of  many  produc- 
tions of  specific  character,  two  may  be  mentioned 
particularly.  The  sons  of  the  late  Prof,  della  Torre 
have  published  the  collected  writings  of  their  father 
in  two  splendidly  edited  volumes,  and  Dr.  M.  S. 
Zuckermandel  has  published  a  work  in  two  volumes  of 
500  pages  each  on  the  Tosefta.  Zuckermandel  began 
work  on  this  subject  nearly  forty  years  ago,  and  the 
fact  that  a  man  in  advanced  years  is  striving  so  hard 
for  the  elucidation  of  what  is,  after  all,  a  minor  ques- 
tion in  Jewish  literature,  is  a  splendid  proof  of  the 
undying  idealism  of  wrhich  Israel's  history  is  an  un- 
surpassed example.  There  could  be  no  more  appro- 
priate New  Year's  greeting  than  this  fact,  which  as 
the  guiding  thought  of  the  past,  gives  assurance  for 
the  future. 


THE  YEAR  5670.* 

THE  year  just  passed  was  a  leap  year  of  383  days, 
and,  therefore,  the  events  to  be  considered  in 
this  review  occupy  much  more  space  than  usual. 
In  importance,  however,  this  year  has  hardly  left 
anything  as  a  lasting  heritage  to  history,  unless  it  is 
the  fact  that  a  Jew  for  the  first  time  has  been  ap- 
pointed premier.  The  most  serious  problem  before 
Jewry,  the  Russian  situation,  remains  unaltered, 
with  a  tendency  towards  deterioration.  Reactionary 
movements  in  countries  where  Jews  possess  freedom 
have  not  materially  progressed,  and  in  the  internal 
life  of  Judaism  no  change  of  any  consequence  has 
occurred.  The  liberals  have  become  somewhat  more 
active,  and  have  stimulated  the  orthodox  camp  into 
action  on  their  part,  but  it  would  be  unjustified 
optimism  to  say  that  the  problem  of  battling  with 
indifference  or  of  harmonizing  the  ideas  of  the  age 
with  Jewish  tradition  has  been  either  solved  or  brought 
nearer  solution. 

It  may  be  justly  said,  in  speaking  of  the  relation 
of  the  outside  work  to  the  Jews,  that  to  us  applies 
the  Talmudic  statement,1  "We  are  neither  enjoying 
the  prosperity  of  the  wicked,  nor  the  tribulations  of 
the  righteous." 

In  countries  where  law  and  practice  give  to  Jews 
unrestricted  equality  with  their  fellow-citizens,  we 
can,  if  we  are  sufficiently  attentive  to  the  signs  of 

*The  American  Israelite,  September  29,  1910. 
'Abot,  4,  15. 


272  SCROLLS 

the  times,  still  discover  that  historic  feeling  which 
considers  the  Jew  an  inferior.  It  would  be  unjusti- 
fied pessimism  to  view  such  incidents  with  alarm,  but 
it  would  be  conceit  to  pass  them  by  with  absolute 
indifference.  When  Judge  Cochran,  of  Wilmington, 
Delaware,  says  to  a  Jew  from  the  bench,  "This  sounds 
like  a  Jew  trick,"  and  when  the  factory  hands  in  a 
carpet  mill  in  Newburg,  New  York,  declare  a  strike 
because  a  Jew  had  been  given  a  job,  these  facts  reveal 
a  certain  mental  attitude,  both  amongst  classes  as. 
amongst  masses.  Similarly  significant  are  incidents- 
reported  from  the  Transvaal,  where  houses  are  offered 
for  sale  with  the  proviso  that  no  Jew  need  apply. 
Particularly  virulent  seems  to  be  the  agitation  in 
Canada,  most  of  all  in  Montreal,  with  its  large  French 
Roman  Catholic  population,  which  has  received  quite 
a  number  of  its  leaders  from  the  French  monks, 
forced  to  leave  France  on  account  of  the  law  of  sep- 
aration, and  who  continue  the  agitation  which  was  a 
failure  at  home,  in  their  new  country.  A  depth  of 
brutality  is  demonstrated  in  the  case  of  a  Canadian 
Catholic,  who  assaulted  a  man  on  the  street  without 
provocation,  because  he  thought  him  to  be  a  Jew. 
The  judge  sentenced  the  man  to  three  months'  hard 
labor  and  gave  him  a  severe  lecture.  Not  all  judges- 
seem  to  understand  their  duty  so  fully,  for  Judge 
Forges,  of  St.  John,  N.  B.,  who  tried  some  thieves 
who  had  sold  stolen  goods  to  a  Jewish  junk  dealer, 
denounced  in  the  trial,  not  the  thieves,  but  the  Jews, 
who  are  in  the  habit  of  buying  stolen  goods,  and  in 
this  way  make  fortune  so  quickly  that  they  caa 
afford  to  buy  mansions. 


THE    YEAR   5670  273- 


France  proper  seems  to  have  overcome  the  anti- 
semitic  agitation.  The  last  elections  to  the  Chamber 
showed  an  ignominious  defeat  of  the  clericals,  who 
had  hoped  to  retrieve  their  fortunes.  In  social  life 
however,  antisemitism  has  not  died  out,  and  it  is 
quite  significant  that  a  number  of  professors  of  the 
law  department  of  the  University  of  Paris  refused  to 
vote  for  the  re-election  of  M.  Lyon-Caen  as  dean, 
and  that  the  students  made  a  demonstration  against 
him.  England  has  always  been  politically  too  ma- 
ture, and,  besides,  was  so  imbued  with  the  spirit  of 
freedom,  dating  back  to  medieval  times,  that  it 
understands  that  antisemitism  can  not  be  a  political 
program.  The  case  of  Hilaire  Belloc,  with  his  queer 
notion  that  the  mediaeval  papal  bulls  should  be 
revived  and  made  part  of  the  constitution,  placing 
the  Jews  on  the  basis  of  outlaws,  is  too  absurd  to 
deserve  any  serious  attention,  but  that  such  ideas 
should  exist  in  free  F^ngland,  even  exceptionally,  is 
far  from  gratifying.  When  an  Knglish  minister,  like 
the  Rev.  Kvan  Morgan,  preaching  in  Shanghai,  s^lys 
that  the  Jews  are  a  menace,  such  an  incident  must 
not  be  entirely  overlooked.  Orthodox  Christianity 
is  bound  to  look  upon  the  crucifixion  as  the  greatest 
crime  ever  committed,  and,  consequently,  the  Jews 
must  surfer  for  it.  It  is  not  likely  that  the  same  man 
who  preached  the  storv  of  the  divine  punishment 
for  the  cry,  "Crucify  him!"  actually  meant  to  revive 
the  events  of  the  Crusades,  but  this  stock  in  trade 
can  not  be  entirely  dispensed  with.  This  review  of 
events  in  countries  of  freedom,  most  of  which  are 
open  to  immigration,  and  some  of  which  ought  to 


274  SCROLLS 

welcome  it  from  whatever  part  it  comes,  give  us 
evidence  that  the  time  is  still  distant  when  the  hopes 
of  the  revolutionary  era  of  the  end  of  the  18th  century 
will  be  realized. 

It  is  natural  that  in  countries  in  which  remnants 
of  the  feudal  states  survive,  if  not  in  the  constitution, 
at  least  in  their  traditions,  the  position  of  the  Jew 
is  not  quite  satisfactory.  In  Germany,  and  particu- 
larly in  Prussia,  where  bureaucracy  is  a  great  power, 
the  Jew  is  still  discriminated  against  in  public  and 
in  social  life.  Officials,  and  more  so  army  officers,  use 
all  possible  opportunities  to  show  that  the  constitu- 
tion, as  far  as  they  are  concerned,  is  a  dead  letter. 
Significant  in  this  respect  is  an  incident  at  a  con- 
vention of  German  dentists.  The  minister  of  edu- 
cation, von  Studt,  had  been  invited  to  attend  the  con- 
vention, and  replied  he  would  do  so  if  a  Jew  was 
not  elected  presiding  officer,  for  "the  prominence  of 
the  Jews  is  not  looked  upon  with  satisfaction  in  the 
higher  circles."  When  interviewed  as  to  the  truth 
of  this  rumor,  he,  as  a  correct  official,  refused  to 
either  affirm  or  deny  it.  The  Kaiser,  in  spite  of  his 
friendship  for  some  Jews  prominent  in  the  financial 
world,  certainly  spoke  his  mind  when  he  declared 
at  Marienburg,  August  29,  that  Christianity  and 
German  nationalism  are  inseparably  connected.  Still 
more  clearly  defined  was  the  position  of  the  crown 
prince,  when  he  asserted  that  instead  of  criticising 
oif  internal  conditions,  "we  Germans  should  strength- 
en our  national  (voelkisch)  life,"  and  he  deservedly 
earned  the  applause  of  the  antisemites,  whose  argot 
he  adopted.  The  case  of  the  Bavarian  soldier, 


THE    YEA  R    567  0  275 

Raphael  Frank,  who  was  injured  by  a  lieutenant, 
bearing  the  appropriate  name  of  Rohe,  is  also  signifi- 
cant. The  man  appeared  as  witness  against  the 
officer  before  a  court-martial  and  was  grossly  insulted 
by  the  presiding  judge,  who  said  to  him,  "We  are 
no  cattle  dealers,  and  we  do  not  talk  with  our  hands." 
The  officer  was  given  a  nominal  punishment  under 
the  assumption  that  the  injuries  of  the  man  whom 
he  had  ridden  over  were  accidental.  The  gentry, 
consisting  of  landed  proprietors  and  former  army 
officers,  who  furnish  the  bulk  of  the  members  of  the 
conservative  party  in  the  diet  of  Prussia,  showed  their 
spirit  in  one  of  their  typical  jokes.  The  socialist, 
Liebknecht,  had  complained  of  the  curtailing  of  the 
liberty  of  students,  and  his  remarks  were  greeted 
with  an  outburst  of  laughter  by  the  conservatives, 
who  shouted:  "Curtailing  (beschneiden)  is  good!" 
The  same  spirit  prevails  in  the  circles  of  the  high 
school  teachers.  The  administration,  which  is  so 
strict  in  matters  of  discipline,  allows  the  students  to 
form  fraternities  for  the  cultivation  of  sport,  from 
which  the  Jews  are  excluded,  and  still  these  fraterni- 
ties are  officially  recognized  insofar  as  the  principal  is 
an  honorary  member  and  the  government  grants 
them  subsidies.  A  high  official  in  the  province  of 
Posen,  Councilor  Herr,  wrote  a  book  entitled  "Ost- 
maerkische  Stadtepolitik,"  in  which  he  repeated  the 
usual  cant  of  the  pernicious  influence  of  the  Jews  in 
the  Polish  provinces.  At  the  same  time  the  Polish 
papers  do  their  best  to  boycott  the  Jews  as  an  element 
which  strengthens  the  policy  of  Germanization.  In 
this  case  the  government  did  not  treat  such  an 


276  SCROLLS 

agitation  indifferently,  and  in  one  case  the  offender 
was  promptly  transferred  to  a  different  post.  More 
serious  was  a  case  in  the  hospital  of  Britz,  in  the 
province  of  Brandenburg.  This  hospital  is  supported 
by  the  county  and  therefore  ought  to  be  accessible 
to  all  citizens.  Nevertheless  the  managing  physician 
refused  to  accept  Jews  as  internes  on  the  plea  that 
the  other  internes  refuse  to  treat  them  on  a  basis 
of  social  equality.  The  matter  was  brought  up  for 
discussion  at  the  Kreistag  and  in  the  diet.  In  the 
former  body  the  Landrat  declared  that  there  was  no 
ground  for  action.  In  the  diet,  where  the  matter  was 
discussed  twice,  the  minister  was  a  little  more  con- 
ciliatory. He  regretted  the  action,  but  declared  that 
inasmuch  as  the  hospital  administration  was  inde- 
pendent in  internal  affairs,  he  could  not  interfere. 
A  similar  case  happened  in  Luebeck,  where  a  Jewish 
interne,  upon  his  application,  was  engaged  because 
his  name  did  not  indicate  that  he  was  a  Jew,  but 
after  he  had  made  his  appearance  he  was  told  that 
he  was  not  wanted. 

It  must  be  said,  however,  that  antisemitism  as  a 
political  program  seems  to  be  steadily  losing  ground. 
To  the  Reichstag,  at  the  last  election,  held  in  1910,  17 
antisemitic  members,  divided  into  three  groups,  were 
returned.  Of  these  seventeen  seats  four  became 
vacant  during  the  last  three  years,  and  in  each  case 
the  antisemites  were  defeated.  In  three  instances  the 
socialists  were  the  victors,  and  in  one  case  the  national 
liberals  carried  the  election.  The  victory  of  the 
socialist  element  is  especially  significant  in  a  district 
of  Saxony,  which  formerly  was  represented  by  the 


THE     YEA  R    567  0  277 

antisemitic  leader,  Oswald  Zimmerman.  This  seat, 
now  in  the  hands  of  the  socialists  shows  that  the 
strength  of  the  antisemites  comes  largely  from  the 
fear  of  socialism,  because  a  great  many  votes  go  to 
the  antisemites  in  order  to  defeat  the  socialist  candi- 
date. It  is  also  interesting  that  this  successful 
socialist  candidate  is  a  former  pastor,  who  began  his 
political  career  on  the  basis  of  Christian  socialism, 
even  if  he  was  not  a  regular  member  of  that  party. 
Far  stronger  is  the  position  of  the  antisemites  in 
Austria,  because  their  national  chauvinism  adds 
strength  to  the  agitation  and  clericalism  backs  it. 
The  Bohemian  socialist,  Myslivec,  who  is  a  member 
of  the  Reichsrat  and  of  the  city  council  of  Prague, 
said  in  the  latter  body  that  it  would  be  best  to  remove 
the  tombstones  of  the  old  cemetery  and  the  Altneu- 
schul  from  their  present  site  and  to  transfer  them,  if 
the  Jews  wish  to  preserve  them,  to  the  new  cemetery. 
One  must  remember  that  both,  the  cemetery  and  the 
old  synagog,  are  amongst  the  most  interesting  sights 
of  Prague,  visited  by  numerous  tourists.  The 
rudeness  of  this  remark  and  the  indifference  to  the 
archeological  interests  show  how  far  fanaticism  will 
go.  It  is  natural  that  officials,  army  officers  and  high 
school  teachers  in  a  country  with  bureaucratic  and 
clerical  powers  in  the  lead  will  furnish  occasional 
excesses  against  the  Jews.  A  typical  instance  was 
the  case  of  the  prominent  oculist,  Prof.  Krnst  Fuchs, 
in  Vienna,  who  said  to  a  (ialician  patient  that  he  did 
not  treat  any  Jews  in  his  private  practice.  The 
matter  was  brought  before  the  court,  and  the  court 
decided  justly  that  the  professor  could  not  be  com- 


278  SCROLLS 

pelled  to  treat  any  patient  outside  of  the  clinic,  and 
while  the  professor  could  also  justly  claim,  that  the 
presence  of  Polish  Jews  in  his  waiting  room  is  in- 
jurious to  his  practice,  it  is  evident  that  the  prejudice 
rests  with  him  and  with  the  members  of  the  circle 
to  which  he  belongs.  How  far  antisemites  in  Austria 
may  go  without  fearing  the  public  prosecutor,  other- 
wise so  watchful  in  regard  to  excesses  of  the  press,  is 
seen  by  a  supposed  joke  in  the  humorous  paper, 
"Kikeriki,"  which  said  that  the  best  anti  Semitic  pro- 
gram was  a  pogrom. 

Hungary  shows  more  favorable  conditions,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  the  Jews  are  strong  supporters  of  the 
Magyar  element.  Antisemitic  tendencies  however, 
are  very  strong  in  aristocratic  circles.  There  is  in 
Budapest  an  exclusive  club,  called  Park  Club,  to 
which  the  former  minister,  Baron  Daniel,  belongs. 
His  wife  proposed  her  daughter-in-law  as  a  member, 
and  met  with  strong  opposition,  because  the  lady, 
although  converted  to  Catholicism  was  of  Jewish 
birth.  The  matter  created  such  strong  feeling  that 
the  president,  Count  Szapari,  resigned,  and  a  number 
of  those  who  had  protested  against  the  election  of  the 
new  member  seceded,  and  formed  another  exclusive 
club,  which  will  not  allow  persons  of  Jewish  descent  to 
become  members  .  The  clergy,  which  has  not  forgot- 
ten the  loss  of  its  privileges,  uses  every  possible  oppor- 
tunity to  antagonize  the  Jews.  A  very  rude  case  of 
this  kind  was  a  parade  held  in  Maria  Potsch,  where  a 
young  peasant  dressed  like  a  Polish  Jew,  and  with 
Talis  and  Tefillin,  marched  through  the  streets, 
singing  antisemitic  gongs.  The  government  officially 


THE     YEA  R    5670  279 

does  not  coutenance  antisemitism,  l>ut  a  Jew  who 
applied  for  a  teaching  position  was  told  by  an  official 
in  the  ministry  of  education,  who  as  accident  would 
have  it,  is  a  converted  Jew  himself,  that  Jews  are  not 
wanted. 

The  most  important  problem  for  American  Jews 
is  that  of  immigration,  and  intimately  connected  with 
it,  the  relation  to  the  Russian  question.  The  latter 
was  officially  broached  by  the  resolution,  introduced 
by  F.  B.  Harrison,  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
in  which  he  protested  against  the  tortures  perpetrated 
on  the  Russian  Jews.  April  29.  President  Taft 
received  in  this  connection  Judge  Goldfogle,  and 
promised  to  give  the  matter  his  attention.  June  9. 
It  may  be  in  direct  connection  with  this  fact  that 
Oscar  Hammerstein,  the  theatrical  manager,  was 
refused  a  passport  vise  when  he  wished  to  go  to 
Russia  to  engage  a  prima  donna,  as  was  reported  on 
the  same  day.  Russia  evidently  wishes  to  show  that 
she  is  not  afraid  of  public  opinion,  nor  of  any  action 
of  foreign  governments,  in  matters  which  she  declares 
to  be  her  own  concern,  and  it  may  be  that  for  the 
very  same  reason  Mr.  Oscar  S.  Straus,  although 
protected  by  the  rights  of  a  diplomat,  had  to  demand 
special  permission  to  enter  Russia.  It  would  be 
interesting  to  know  the  exact  text  of  the  indorse- 
ment of  his  passport,  which,  when  issued  to  a  Jew 
states  the  bearer's  religion.  Firebrands  may  denounce 
our  government  and  attack  individuals  for  submitting 
to  these  inhuman  regulations,  but  a  practical  solution 
is  not  so  easy.  One  would  imagine  that  the  terrible 
sanitary  condition  in  Russia  with  a  regular  outbreak 


280  SCROLLS 

of  plague  and  cholera  would  be  sufficient  ground  for 
the  government  to  adopt  such  quarantine  measures, 
against  Russian  commerce  that  Russia  would  be 
forced  to  terms.  Unfortunately  our  labor  agitation 
and  the  regard  of  the  party  in  power  for  the  labor  vote, 
which  distrusts  both  the  Republican  party  and 
President  Taft,  leads  to  an  unfriendly  attitude  towards, 
immigration.  Proofs  of  this  attitude  were  seen  in 
two  recent  decisions  on  the  immigration  to  Galveston, 
and  also  in  the  action  of  the  commission  on  immigra- 
tion, although  the  House  postponed  a  definite 
decision,  March  15.  The  passing  of  the  Hayes  bill, 
which  allowed  the  naturalization  of  Syrians,  Armen- 
ians, Asiatic  Jews,  not  classifying  them  with  other 
Asiatic  immigration,  is  a  logical  attitude  and  shows 
fairness.  May  2.  But  the  action  of  Secretary 
Nagel,  in  the  case  of  thirty-four  immigrants  who 
landed  in  Galveston  on  July  15,  and  of  one  hundred 
immigrants,  who  landed  there  on  August  7,  is  decided- 
ly biased.  The  decision  of  the  secretary  rests  on  the 
supposition  that  the  Jewish  Immigrant  Aid  Society 
stimulates  immigration  and  that  the  people  who  are 
advised  by  this  society  are  subsidized  immigrants. 
The  matter  was  jubilantly  taken  up  by  the  narrow- 
minded  Protestant  clericals,  of  whom  the  Baptist 
paper,  "Journal  and  Messenger,"  is  a  typical  specimen, 
and  the  cry  was  raised  that  the  Jews  wish  to  evade  the 
laws,  and  to  overrun  the  country  with  an  undesirable 
element.  The  statement  is  downright  slander.  Im- 
migration is  bound  to  continue  as  long  as  the  unbear- 
able conditions  of  Russia  continue.  Emigrants  will 
often  be  exploited  by  sharks,  and  therefore  the  bureau 


THE     YE  A  R    5670  281 

was  established  to  give  tham  all  the  necessary  infor- 
mation and  to  protect  them  against  exploitation.  It 
was  also  devised  to  turn  immigration  toward  Galves- 
ton,  not  in  order  to  evade  a  supposedly  stricter 
inspection  in  eastern  ports,  but  to  turn  immigration 
away  from  the  overcrowded  slum  districts  in  seaport 
cities,  to  the  more  thinly  populated  west.  If  is  im- 
possible that  anybody,  desirous  of  being  informed, 
could  misunderstand  the  situation,  and  therefore  the 
outcry  against  the  Hooding  of  the  country  with  Jews 
is  gratuitous  calumny.  No  one  can  charge  the 
administration  of  President  Taft  personally,  with  any 
anti-Jewish  bias.  The  presence  of  the  President  at 
the  banquet  of  the  Independent  Order  B'nai  B'rith  at 
the  constitutional  grand  lodge  in  Washington,  April  6, 
and  the  addresses  made  by  him,  by  ex-Secretary 
Foster,  by  Speaker  Cannon,  and  Admiral  Schley, 
clearly  show  that  the  Jew  is  a  factor  in  public  life, 
and  that  the  national  leaders  recognize  and  appreciate 
it.  A  case  in  point  is  the  brave  action  taken  by  Mayor 
Gaynor  of  New  York,  when  he  refused  to  license 
street  preaching  by  missionaries  on  the  Hast  Side, 
declaring  that  this  would  irritate  the  Jewish  people 
and  cause  trouble.  This  statement  would  have  been 
sufficient  as  a  reason  for  the  refusal,  but  the  brave 
mayor  went  further  and  declared  frankly  that  he 
saw  no  cause  why  the  Jews  should  be  treated  like 
heathens  and  savages,  when  their  religion  was  as 
good  as  any  other. 

The  event  alluded  to  in  the  introduction  places  Italy 
in  the  front  rank  of  Jewish  history  during  the  past 
year.  Giuseppe  Luzzatti,  who  six  times  had  held 


282 


the  position  of  minister  of  finance,  was  on  December 
10,  appointed  secretary  of  agriculture,  and  in  March 
entrusted  with  the  formation  of  a  cabinet,  whose 
presiding  officer  he  has  been  ever  since.  This  is  the 
first  case  of  its  kind  known  in  history.  It  might  be 
appropriate  on  this  occasion  to  refer  to  the  usual 
exaggeration  of  the  status  of  Jews  in  the  Middle  ages. 
It  is  said  that  in  Spain  under  Moslem  government 
such  cases  have  happened  before.  This  is  not  true. 
Jews  occupied  during  mediaeval  times  occasionally 
very  important  positions  as  financial  advisers  and 
here  and  there  as  literary  assistants  of  the  diplomatic 
corps,  but  they  were  never  members  of  a  government. 
This  was  excluded  by  the  fundamental  principle  of 
the  mediaeval  state,  both  in  Mohammedan  and  in 
Christian  countries.  Luzzatti  is  not  a  very  strong 
Jew  in  the  sense  of  synagog  affiliation.  He  said  at 
one  time  in  reply  to  a  newspaper  attack,  that  he  feels 
only  as  a  Jew,  when  he  is  attacked  as  such,  and 
occasionally  in  his  works  he  showed  an  obtrusive 
admiration  for  "the  blonde  Rabbi  of  Nazareth,"  the 
blondness  evidently  being  a  necessary  feature  in  the 
opinion  of  those  who  wish  to  make  Jesus  an  Aryan. 
But  Luzatti  was  never  converted  to  Christianity 
and  is  therefore  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  a  full-fledged 
Jew.  It  is  quite  interesting  to  observe  that  the 
placing  of  a  Jew  at  the  head  of  a  cabinet  did  not 
cause  a  ripple  in  Italy,  whose  population,  nominally 
at  least,  is  99  per  cent  Roman  Catholic.  It  is  also 
interesting  that  a  Catholic  committee  demanded  of 
the  Jewish  premier  protection  against  annoyance  by 
mobs,  and  that  he  cooly  replied,  "Catholics  shall  have 


THE    YEA  R   56  70  283 

all  the  protection  which  the  law  grants  to  every  law- 
abiding  citizen."  Of  lasting  merit  in  his  administra- 
tion will  be  the  la\v  of  compulsory  education,  which 
he  introduced  in  Parliament  and  which  was  passed  in 
spite  of  the  clerical  agitation  for  its  defeat.  By  the 
side  of  the  overtowering  importance  of  this  appoint- 
ment, the  appointment  of  two  Jews,  Prof.  Polacco 
and  Luigi  Mortara,  as  members  of  the  Senate,  is 
comparatively  insignificant,  but  it  is  worth  while 
noting  that  there  are  at  present  eleven  members  in 
the  Italian  Senate.  In  view  of  the  difficulties 
that  confront  Jews  in  diplomatic  service  in  Christian 
countries,  the  appointment  of  Salvatore  Barzilai,  as 
ambassador  to  China,  deserves  notice. 

The  main  political  question  that  confronts  the 
Jews  in  England  is  the  same  as  in  America,  the  ques- 
tion of  immigration.  The  anti-alien  immigration 
law  which  was  passed  by  the  conservative  ministry 
as  a  last,  though  futile,  attempt  to  maintain  itself  in 
power,  was  inherited  by  the  present  liberal  ministry, 
but  the  latter  seems  to  be  quite  satisfied  with  its 
existence.  Mr.  Winston  Churchill,  who,  during  the 
campaign,  promised  to  work  for  the  alteration  of  the 
most  oppressive  features,  has  not  kept  his  promise, 
although  quite  recently  in  a  letter,  addressed  to  the 
Board  of  Guardians,  May  4,  he  repeated  his  promise. 
In  some  respects  the  treatment  of  the  immigrants  is 
worse  in  England  than  it  is  in  America.  A  case  in 
which  some  immigrants  were  kept  on  board  of  ships 
in  a  condition  which  would  be  a  disgrace,  if  it  wen- 
allowed  in  a  penal  institution,  was  brought  to  public- 
attention  and,  although  denied  in  part,  discloses  a 


284  SCROLLS 

very  unfriendly  attitude  toward  immigration.  One 
can  hardly  include  the  audience,  granted  by  the  new 
king  to  representatives  Jews,  June  22,  in  the  list  of 
events  that  affect  the  condition  of  the  Jews.  More 
important,  however,  is  that  Mr.  Herbert  S.  Samuel, 
to  whose  lot  it  fell  to  be  the  first  Jewish  member  of  the 
king's  cabinet,  as  chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lan- 
caster, was  made  postmaster  general,  and  is  at  the 
head  of  a  department  in  which  Sir  Matthew  Nathan, 
formerly  governor  of  Natal,  also  occupies  a  prominent 
position.  Other  important  appointments  include 
Mr.  Edwin  S.  Samuel,  who  was  made  under-secretary 
for  India,  and  Mr.  Rufus  Isaacs,  subsequently 
knighted,  as  solicitor  general.  The  new  king,  besides 
conferring  the  knighthood  on  Mr.  Rufus  Isaacs,  has 
raised  three  Jews,  Mr.  Karl  Meyer,  Mr.  Alfred  Mond, 
and  Mr.  Adolph  Tuck  to  the  baronetcy,  the  latter 
the  son  of  an  immigrant  from  a  small  town  in  the 
province  of  Posen,  and  the  head  of  the  greatest  art 
publishing  firm  in  England,  is  also  an  active  member  of 
the  Jewish  community.  Of  similar  importance  are 
some  elections  of  Jews  to  important  municipal  offices, 
like  that  of  Jacob  Moser,  zealous  worker  in  Zionist  cir- 
cles, Lord  Mayor  of  Bradford,  of  Philip  Dresner,  as  bailie 
of  Leith,  and  finally  the  election  of  eleven  Jews, 
amongst  whom  Miss  Nettie  Adler,  daughter  of 
the  chief  rabbi,  as  members  of  the  London  county 
council.  In  internal  life,  the  conference  of  Jewish 
ministers,  the  first  of  its  kind,  held  December  26-28. 
is  a  matter  of  historic  importance,  inasmuch  as  it  is 
the  first  official  action  which  shows  the  untenable 
condition  of  the  chief  rabbinate  with  its  episcopal 


THE    YEA  R   56  7  0  285 

power,  and  while  predictions  as  to  the  future  are 
somewhat  risky,  it  would  seem  that  this  event  will 
inaugurate  a  new  era,  when  the  office  of  chief  rabbi  is 
filled  by  a  person  not  possessing  the  prestige  of  the 
present  aged  incumbent. 

Of  the  Scandinavian  countries,  with  their  scanty 
Jewish  population,  only  Denmark  came  into  public 
notice  during  the  last  year  through  two  appointments 
Mr.  Edward  Brandes  was  for  a  short  time  minister  ot 
finance,  and  the  first  Jew  holding  an  office  in  the 
cabinet,  and  Mr.  Herman  Trier  was  called  to  the 
Landsthing,  the  upper  House.  Mr.  Trier  has  held 
important  positions  before.  He  was  presiding  officer 
of  the  city  council,  and  Speaker  of  the  Folksthing, 
the  House  of  Representatives.  Internal  conditions 
seem  to  be  less  satisfactory.  Kdward  Brandes  years 
ago  severed  his  connection  with  the  Jewish  community 
and  his  brother,  the  famous  literary  critic,  George 
Brandes,  has  done  so  lately  in  connection  with  the 
discharge  of  the  chief  rabbi  of  Copenhagen,  whose 
orthodoxy  seems  to  have  been  too  much  for  the 
Jewish  community.  In  this  case,  as  elsewhere, 
radicalism  and  orthodoxy  joined  hands.  George 
Brandes,  while  he  still  paid  dues  to  the  Jewish  com- 
munity, had  declared  repeatedly  that  he  did  not  con- 
sider himself  a  Jew,  and  in  the  case  of  the  Jews  of 
Finland,  although  he  later  modified  his  remarks,  he 
showed  an  absolutely  indifferent  attitude  when  he 
was  asked  to  interest  himself  on  their  behalf. 

The  constitution  of  the  North  German  Federation 
was  amended  July  3,  1869,  by  a  resolution  which 
provided  that  no  state  of  the  federation  could  make 


286  SCROLLS 

any  law  discriminating  against  any  citizen  on  the 
ground  of  his  religion.  This  resolution  which  was  dir- 
ected against  Mecklenburg,  which  at  that  time  still  had 
discriminating  laws  on  its  statute  books,  was  embodied 
in  the  constitution  of  the  new  empire  in  1871.  Al- 
though the  empire  will  shortly  celebrate  the  fortieth 
anniversary  of  its  foundation,  this  constitutional 
provision  is  a  dead-letter,  as  far  as  appointment  of 
Jews  to  certain  classes  of  official  positions,  and  par- 
ticularly to  the  army  is  concerned.  For  about  thirty 
years  no  Jew  has  attained  the  rank  of  an  officer  in 
the  army,  and  even  before  that  time  appointments 
were  merely  made  to  the  reserve  corps.  As  Germany 
has  compulsory  military  service,  there  are  about 
15,000  Jews  in  the  army,  among  whom,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  Jews  form  a  very  large  percentage,  six 
or  eight  times  their  pro  rata,  in  high  schools,  a  great 
number  of  volunteers  are  found.  It  is  customary  that 
these  volunteers,  after  having  served  their  year  are  ad- 
mitted to  an  examination  which  enables  them  to 
obtain  the  rank  of  a  lieutenant  in  the  reserve.  To 
Jews  this  privilege  has  for  the  last  thirty  years  been 
persistently  denied,  with  the  exception  of  the  Bavarian 
contingent  which  is  under  separate  administration. 
The  matter  has  been  repeatedly  discussed  in  the 
Reichstag,  and  again  this  year,  when  the  liberal 
member,  Gothein,  who  is  president  of  the  society 
against  antisemitism,  quoted  statistical  data,  showing 
beyond  any  doubt  that  the  authorities  discriminated 
against  the  Jews,  February  10.  Minister  von  Her- 
ringen,  who  is  at  the  head  of  the  war  department, 
replied  that  there  was  no  law  barring  the  Jews  from 


THE     YEA  R    567  0  287 

such  appointments,  and  that  if  a  Jew  were  proposed 
for  such  a  position  by  a  regiment  to  which  he  made 
application,  the  emperor  would,  beyond  any  doubt,  con- 
firm him.  His  Excellency  seems  to  have  been  afraid 
that  this  admission  might  be  interpreted  in  the 
sense  that  such  a  possibility  was  likely  to  arise  and 
he  added  that  in  addition  to  other  qualifications,  an 
officer  must  be  a  man  who  can  command  respect 
(achtung-gebietende  Persoenlichkeit.)  A  similar  an- 
swer he  gave  to  the  "Verband  der  Deutschen  Juden," 
who  complained  about  a  remark  made  by  a  judge  in 
the  course  of  the  trial  of  Captain  Count  Gersdorft, 
charged  with  ill-treatment  of  a  Jewish  soldier.  The 
judge  had  said  that  it  is  well  known  that  it  never 
has  been  an  advantage  to  anybody  in  the  army  to  be 
a  Jew.  The  minister  replied  that  the  remark  was 
ill-advised,  but  that  it  gave  him  no  ground  for  official 
action.  The  first  part  of  the  answer  clearly  defines 
the  condition.  A  spontaneous  satire  of  history- 
brought  some  very  peculiar  instances  to  light,  which 
showed  what  kind  of  "achtung-gebietende  Persoen- 
lichkeit" is  occasionally  found  amongst  the  officers  of 
the  German  army.  The  same  Count  Gersdorff,  who 
drove  the  Jewish  volunteer  to  suicide,  and  who  would 
certainly  never  have  given  to  any  Jewish  soldier  a 
character  that  would  entitle  him  to  a  commission, 
was  the  hero  of  a  very  unpleasant  incident.  His 
wife's  sister,  married  to  another  Captain,  Count 
Pfeil,  sued  for  divorce  and  told  in  the  court  the  most 
shameful  stories  of  the  indignities,  to  which  she  had 
been  subjected  by  her  husband.  In  the  course  of  the 
trial  the  fact  that  her  sister.  Countess  von  GersdorrT, 


:288  SCROLLS 

had  committed  suicide  was  mentioned.  Countess 
von  Pfeil  was  asked  the  cause  of  her  sister's  suicide, 
and  said,  "She  committed  the  deed  because  she 
was  married  to  just  such  a  scamp  as  my  husband 
is."  In  another  case  a  chronique  scandaleuse  was 
revealed  in  the  conduct  of  a  general,  which  showed  a 
degree  of  moral  perversity  which  could  not  even 
remotely  be  told  in  a  respectable  paper.  Of  the 
various  branches  of  the  German  administration,  it  is 
only  the  judiciary  in  which  the  Jews  are  permitted 
to  occupy  positions  of  any  consequence,  but  even 
there  they  are  limited.  The  judge  of  the  Alsatian 
•superior  court,  Levi,  was  proposed  for  appointment 
to  the  federal  supreme  court,  but  was  not  accepted, 
although  he  possesses  rare  qualification,  both  as  a 
jurist  and  in  his  social  standing.  His  father,  Simon 
Levi,  as  a  member  of  the  Bavarian  diet,  urged  in 
1870  that  Bavaria  join  the  North  German  Federa- 
tion in  the  war  against  France,  when  the  clericals  who 
were  opposed  to  the  hegemony  of  a  Protestant  state 
opposed  the  motion.  Levi  was  not  appointed  because 
the  supreme  court  must  retain  its  exclusive  Teutonic 
character.  The  antisemitic  member  of  the  Reichstag, 
Werner,  congratulated  the  minister  on  his  stand, 
January  20,  but  the  latter  found  it  advisable  not  to 
acknowledge  the  compliment.  A  government,  dis- 
criminating against  its  own  citizens  at  home,  will  not 
go  out  of  its  way  to  urge  their  right  to  be  treated  on 
equal  footing  with  other  Germans,  when  they  travel 
in  Russia.  The  matter  was  discussed  in  the  Reichstag 
March  15,  but  will  not  lead  to  any  result.  Under 
these  conditions  it  is  regrettable  that  at  a  Jewish 


THE    YEA  R   5670  289 

gathering  a  great  tactical  error  was  committed.  The 
Union  of  German  Congregations  held  its  annual 
meeting  at  Breslau,  October  16-18.  The  governor  of 
the  province,  von  Zedlitz-Truetzschler,  was  present. 
Rabbi  Guttmann  delivered  an  address  on  Judaism 
and  Christianity,  in  which  he  made  some  remarks, 
correct  in  themselves,  but  surely  apt  to  give  offense 
to  a  devout  Christian,  who,  being  an  invited  guest, 
had  a  right  to  feel  offended,  and  he  gave  expression 
to  his  feeling  in  a  protest  against  these  remarks.  The 
publication  of  Harnack's  "Christianity"  about  ten 
years  ago,  has  stimulated  Jewish  apologetics  and  pro- 
duced some  very  good  works.  Guttmann  is  a  very 
sound  scholar  and  has  done  very  meritorious  work 
in  the  line  of  systematic  theology,  but  if  a  con- 
vention of  the  character  of  the  Union  of  Congrega- 
tions is  to  hear  some  theological  address,  it  certainly 
ought  to  exclude  everything  of  a  polemical  nature. 

The  relation  of  state  and  church  in  Germany  does 
not  come  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment, but  is  reserved  to  the  states.  Therefore  the 
states  deal  largely  with  the  questions  of  Jewish 
congregational  life.  This  is  especially  the  case  in  the 
small  states,  which  have  considered  it  their  duty  to 
"educate  the  Jews  and  to  raise  them  to  a  higher  level 
of  citizenship"  by  lending  the  state's  support  to 
communal  organizations.  Prussia,  by  far  the  largest 
of  the  German  states,  has  never  recognized  Judaism 
as  a  religion  entitled  to  the  same  privileges  as  the 
Protestant  and  Catholic  churches.  It  is  in  keeping 
with  this  tradition  that  a  judge  in  Koschmin  of  the 
province  of  Posen  wanted  to  force  a  Jew  to  answer 


290  SCROLLS 

summons  on  Sabbath  and  when  the  Jew  asked  for 
a  postponement  of  the  case,  the  judge  said  that  this 
was  a  Christian  country,  and  even  a  Jew  had  to  obey 
Christian  authorities.  A  complaint  lodged  with  the 
minister  resulted  in  a  declaration  that  this  remark 
was  tactless.  More  serious  is  the  treatment  of 
foreign  Jews.  In  spite  of  the  constitutional  equality, 
which  in  Prussia  dates  back  to  1848,  the  government 
considers  it  still  its  duty  to  discriminate  against 
foreign  Jews.  The  matter  came  up  before  the  city 
council  of  Posen,  where  it  was  proven  that  foreign 
Protestants  coming  from  Poland  are  naturalized, 
while  to  foreign  Jews  naturalization  is  persistently 
denied. 

In  the  years  following  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  the 
German  states,  which  had  been  under  French  rule, 
retained  the  Napoleonic  law  of  1808,  which  dis- 
criminated against  Jewish  merchants  in  credit  opera- 
tions, when  the  same  law  had  been  abandoned  in 
France  long  ago.  Nowr  there  is  a  phenomenon  of  a 
directly  opposite  character.  France  declared  the 
separation  of  state  and  church,  while  in  Alsace,  which 
for  forty  years  was  under  German  administration,  the 
state  still  subsidizes  the  various  churches,  and  upholds 
the  hierarchical  constitution  of  the  consistory,  not 
found  in  any  other  German  state.  The  diet  of 
Alsace  passed  a  law  which  redistricts  the  rabbinates 
and  reduces  them  from  40  to  31,  March  19.  The 
measure  became  necessary  because  during  these  forty 
years  the  number  of  Jews  in  Alsace  has  constantly 
decreased,  and  particularly  the  congregations  in  the 
villages  were  affected  by  the  movement  of  the  popu- 


THE    YEAR   5670  291 


lation.  It  was  a  touching  tribute  to  the  worth  of  a 
man  that  one  congregation  was  maintained  out  of 
regard  for  the  aged  rabbi,  who  did  not  wish  to  change 
his  position.  It  is  the  congregation  of  Sennhei.ni,  of 
which  Solomon  Bamberger,  the  son  of  the  illustrious 
rabbi  of  Wuerzburg,  has  been  minister  for  many  years. 
The  government  wished  to  transfer  the  seat  of  the 
rabbinate  from  this  place,  too,  but  in  the  diet  members 
insisted  that  during  the  lifetime  of  the  present  in- 
cumbent the  status  should  remain  unchanged.  The 
little  principality  of  Birkenfeld,  found  it  also  necessary 
to  amend  the  laws  on  the  rights  and  duties  of  the 
Landrabbiner,  who  is  to  guard  the  spiritual  welfare 
of  about  500  souls.  The  little  Duchy  of  Anhalt, 
which  in  spite  of  a  large  legacy  left  to  it  by  the  late 
Baroness  Cohn-Oppenheim,  is  constantly  losing  its 
Jewish  population,  issued  an  ordinance  by  which 
pupils  are  excused  from  attending  school  on  holydays. 
The  Grand  Duchy  of  Baden,  which  is  the  classic 
country  for  state  supervision  of  the  Jewish  religion, 
with  its  Oberrat  and  its  synod,  also  issued  detailed 
regulations  for  instruction  of  religion  in  public 
schools.  The  main  question,  however,  on  the  rights 
of  the  orthodox,  who  refuse  to  send  their  children  to 
the  official  instruction  in  religion,  was  not  touched. 
This  internal  strife  between  the  orthodox  and  the 
liberal  elements  is  particularly  intense  and  com- 
plicated in  Bavaria.  The  legal  basis  of  the  religious 
organization  there  is  still  the  law  of  1813,  which 
recognizes  only  one  congregation  in  one  city.  In  tin- 
Grand  Duchy  of  Baden,  it  was  the  orthodox  party 
which  protested  against  this  coercion  and  obtained 


292  SCROLLS 

— the  first  case  in  Germany — in  1869  a  court  decision 
permitting  the  secession  of  the  orthodox  element. 
Prussia  and  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Hesse  followed  in 
1876.  In  Bavaria  the  orthodox  rabbis  are  not  in 
favor  of  the  separation,  perhaps  because  in  the 
majority  of  congregations  the  orthodox  are  in  power, 
and  do  not  wish  congregational  life  to  be  weakened 
by  the  right  of  resignation.  The  matter  was  dis- 
cussed in  the  diet,  May  31,  and  the  minister  declared 
that  he  would  give  to  the  question  his  earnest  attention. 
Meantime  they  are  having  a  great  deal  of  fun  in  the 
controversies.  The  orthodox  in  Munich  protested 
against  the  religious  instruction  given  in  the  city 
schools,  because  the  teacher  does  not  cover  his  head. 
The  government  rendered  a  decision  which  again  was 
not  satisfactory  to  the  liberal  element.  The  latter, 
which  is  in  power  in  Nuremberg,  protested  against 
the  granting  of  the  privilege  of  the  school  rooms  for 
the  instruction  of  the  children  of  orthodox  parents, 
who  on  the  ground  of  conscientious  scruples,  do  not 
attend  the  regular  instruction  in  religion.  This 
interest  in  internal  affairs  does  not  by  any  means 
prove  that  the  political  situation  of  the  Jews  is  any 
better.  The  Bavarian  government  showed  its  desire 
to  accommodate  Russia  by  the  order  demanding  the 
removal  of  Fabiansky's  pogrom  picture  from  the  art 
exhibition  in  Munich,  and  councillor  von  Schaetz 
said  to  an  official  who  complained  about  the  disregard 
of  his  constitutional  rights — the  details  were  not 
given  in  the  newspaper  report — that  constitutional 
rights  did  not  amount  to  much,  for  according  to  the 
constitution  the  Jews  ought  to  have  access  to  all 


THE     YEA  R    567  0  293 

official  positions,  "but  we  do  not  appoint  them." 
When  the  matter  was  made  public,  the  man  naturally 
denied  having  made  this  remark,  and  as  no  witness 
was  present,  it  can  not  be  proven  which  of  the  two 
told  the  truth,  but  Minister  von  \Yehner,  when 
asked  why  Jews  had  never  been  appointed  as  teachers 
at  Gymnasiums,  made  an  evasive  reply  in  the  diet, 
May  24.  Bavaria,  on  the  other  hand,  presents  a 
more  favorable  picture  in  army  appointments,  for 
in  a  discussion  in  the  diet  on  discrimination  against 
Jews  in  the  army,  June  21-23,  the  minister  pointed  to 
the  fact  that  there  we.'e  298  Jews  who  held  the  rank 
of  officers  in  the  Bavarian  army,  most  of  them  in 
the  medical  service,  but  quite  lately  one,  Samuel 
Zucker,  was  appointed  lieutenant  in  the  reserve. 
In  the  active  force  no  Jew  holds  such  a  position  which, 
however,  may  be  accidental,  as  a  military  career, 
under  the  present  conditions,  will  hardly  appeal  to  a 
Jew.  Of  the  smaller  states  in  Southern  Germany, 
the  Grand  Duchy  of  Hesse  presents  a  favorable 
situation.  The  government  there  always  took  a 
strong  stand  against  active  antisemitism,  but  recog- 
nized the  movement  silently  by  not  appointing  Jews 
to  positions  on  the  bench  or  in  the  school  service. 
Of  late  this  principle  has  been  abandoned,  and  for 
the  first  time  a  Jew,  Dr.  May,  was  appointed  judge 
in  Osthofen,  and  a  woman,  Frau  Dr.  Schapiro,  in 
Mayence,  was  given  the  first  appointment  on  the 
police  force  ever  obtained  by  a  woman. 

The  reign  of  Francis  Joseph,  who  holds  the  record 
in  the  long  history  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg-Loth- 
rigen,  both  as  to  age  and  years  of  rule,  is  epoch- 


294  SCROLLS 

making  in  Jewish  history.  With  the  exception  of  the 
provisional  constitution,  issued  in  April,  1848,  the 
marvelous  change  in  the  condition  of  the  Jews  is  the 
work  of  his  government.  From  the  almost  mediaeval 
condition  before  1848,  when  Jews  were  treated  as 
political  outlaws,  until  now,  when  they  possess  full 
equality,  great  progress  has  been  made.  The  em- 
peror is  a  very  devout  Catholic,  but  filled  with  a  sense 
of  justice  to  all  of  his  subjects,  including  the  Jews. 
The  political  situation,  however,  is  not  entirely 
dependent  on  a  monarch's  personal  views,  and  in 
Austria  clericalism  is  a  trump  card.  In  some  respects 
the  logic  of  history  makes  itself  felt.  In  spite  of  the 
power  which  clericalism  wields,  Jews  have  obtained 
high  positions.  There  were  during  the  last  year  six 
Jews  appointed  to  high  positions  on  the  bench  (Ober- 
landesgerichtsrat).  It  was  not  until  1868,  that  a  Jew 
was  appointed  as  judge,  and  that  promotion  now  com- 
paratively frequent  was  not  obtained  by  any  Jew 
until  1899.  The  only  position  which,  as  it  seems,  is 
still  denied  to  the  Jew,  in  the  judicary  career,  is  that 
of  judge  of  the  supreme  court.  There  is  one  Jew,  a 
member  of  this  body,  but  he  is  merely  assigned  to  do 
service  there  temporarily,  being  still  kept  on  the  roster 
of  the  Oberlandesgericht.  Another  important  ap- 
pointment is  that  of  the  manufacturer  and  contractor, 
Bernhard  Wetzel,  as  member  of  the  House  of  Lords. 
In  this  respect  Austria  stands  on  equal  footing  with 
England  and  Italy.  Prussia  has  no  Jew  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  while  Austria  has  at  present  six.  It  is 
strange  that  the  ministry  was  attacked  for  this  ap- 
pointment in  Parliament  not  by  antisemites,  but  by 


THE     YEAR    5670  295 

Jews  who  claimed  that  Wetzler  had  bought  his  honor 
by  corrupt  practices,  another  illustration  of  the 
supposed  clannishness  of  Jews.  The  ministry  has  in 
its  midst  two  outspoken  antisemites,  and  needs  the 
support  of  the  Christian  Socialist  party,  which  is 
bound  to  be  antisemitic,  and  now  more  than  ever, 
because  the  death  of  the  leader  of  the  party,  Karl 
Lueger,  the  mayor  of  Vienna,  March  10,  seriously- 
impaired  the  discipline  in  the  formerly  so  well  organ- 
ized body.  Various  scandals  have  come  to  light, 
showing  that  this  party,  which  was  founded  as  an 
anti-corruptionist  organization,  is  corrupt  to  the  core, 
and  its  leaders  are  shameless  grafters.  In  order  to 
paralyze  the  influence  of  these  exposures,  something 
had  to  be  done,  and  this  something  took  the  shape 
of  an  order  prohibiting  peddling  in  Vienna.  By  this 
measure,  which  will  ruin  many  poor  Jews,  the  narrow- 
minded  Vienna  shopkeeper  is  to  be  kept  in  line. 
The  city  council  presided  over  by  a  mediocre  man, 
disgraced  itself  before  the  whole  civilized  world,  by 
ignoring  the  eightieth  birthday  of  the  great  composer, 
Karl  Goldmark.  Lueger  had  a  better  sense  of  pro- 
priety, when  he  paid  a  just  tribute  to  the  memory 
of  the  great  tragedian,  Adolph  von  Sonnenthal,  and 
when  he  spoke  words  of  appreciation  in  the  Jewish 
cemetery  at  the  funeral  of  Theodore  vonCloldschmidt, 
a  member  of  the  city  council.  The  Jews  have  shown 
some  sound  political  judgment  by  defeating  a  con- 
verted Jew  who  was  a  candidate  for  the  city  council. 
Apostasy  in  still  very  frequent  in  Vienna,  although 
it  seems  that  the  total  for  this  year  will  fall  below 
that  of  last  year.  The  Jewish  papers  published  the 


296  SCROLLS 

names  of  the  apostates  and  it  is  strange  that  the 
Socialists  introduced  a  motion  into  the  Reichsrat  to 
prohibit  this  practice  as  a  boycott.  The  Reichsrat 
is  very  often  the  theater  of  the  most  scandalous  out- 
breaks of  rudeness.  The  Czech  clerical,  Wenzel 
Mysliwec,  who  was  provoked  at  the  compliments 
which  Roosevelt  paid  to  the  Hungarians,  called  him 
a  Jew  and  predicted  a  pogrom,  if  the  Jews  did  not 
moderate  their  antagonism  to  the  church.  This 
antagonism  on  the  part  of  the  Jews  to  the  church  is, 
of  course,  a  mere  antisemitic  fabrication.  Austria 
has  still  some  mediaeval  laws  on  her  statute  books, 
among  which  is  the  prohibition  of  divorce  for  Catholics 
The  courts  recognize  merely  the  right  of  separation, 
but  do  not  allow  such  practically  divorced  Catholics 
to  remarry.  A  society  was  formed  to  obtain  legis- 
lation which  will  remedy  this  evil.  There  is  another 
agitation  by  Catholics  on  foot  against  the  coercion 
exercised  by  the  school  authorities  to  compel  school 
children  to  go  to  confession  and  to  attend  mass. 
Jews  are  only  remotely  connected  with  such  move- 
ments as  members  of  societies  agitating  a  change  in 
the  law,  but  it  suits  the  policy  of  the  clericals  to  make 
the  Jews  responsible  for  anything  which  displeases 
them.  The  talk  of  pogrom  is  an  empty  demonstra- 
tion, and  it  must  be  said  that  the  Jews  on  their  part 
are  guilty  of  similar,  although  not  so  wicked,  offenses, 
a  case  in  point  being  the  foolish  act  of  a  Jewish 
lawyer  who  sent  a  brief  in  Yiddish  to  the  courts,  and 
carried  the  matter  to  the  supreme  court  which  decided 
that  Yiddish  was  not  a  recognized  language  (landesue- 
bliche  Sprache)  in  Austria,  October  28.  As  always 


THE     YEA  K    567  0  297 

is  the  case,  the  clerical  government  likes  to  coquet  with 
Jewish  orthodoxy,  and  to  this  desire  is  due  an  order 
of  the  minister  of  commerce,  that  observant  Jews  have 
a  right  to  demand  that  registered  letters  and  packages 
shall  not  be  delivered  to  them  on  their  Sabbath. 
An  important  political  decision  was  reached  in  the 
province  of  Bukowina,  where  a  new  bill  for  the 
elections  to  the  diet  provided  that  delegates  should 
be  elected  by  national  groups.  The  Jews  demanded 
to  be  recognized  as  such  a  national  group,  and  the 
government  was  for  a  time  willing  to  grant  this 
request,  until  the  opposition  of  the  Jews  in  western 
Austria  caused  the  government  to  reconsider  the 
action,  and  to  assign  the  Jewish  electors  to  the  German 
group,  with  some  provision  that  they  should  receive 
proper  representation,  October  5.  A  special  repre- 
sentation of  the  Jews  in  the  diet  has  been  granted  to 
the  Jewish  population  in  the  newly  annexed  province 
of  Bosnia,  where  all  delegates  are  elected  according  to 
their  religious  affiliation,  there  being  groups  of  Moham- 
medans, Greek — and  Roman-Catholics.  The  Jews 
are  represented  there  by  the  chief  rabbi  of  the  Sefar- 
dic  community  of  Serajewo,  and  by  an  elected  member, 
who  this  time  was  also  selected  from  the  Sefardic  com- 
munity, which  represents  the  settlers  living  there 
from  the  time  of  the  Turkish  government.  The  most 
serious  problem  of  the  Austrian  Jews  arises  trom  the 
economic  condition  of  the  Jews  of  Galicia.  The 
province  is  over- populated,  lacks  industrial  activity, 
and  the  Hasidic  influence  also  contributes  to  the 
backwardness  of  the  population.  A  change  of  the 
old  Polish  law  which  gave  to  the  nobles  the  privilege 


298  SCROLLS 

of  distilleries  on  their  estates,  and  which  was  mostly 
farmed  out  to  Jews,  will  affect  thousands  of  poor 
people,  who,  losing  their  former  business,  are  suddenly 
deprived  of  the  means  of  earning  a  living.  The 
government  called  a  conference  for  September  19,  to 
consider  their  condition,  and  that  of  the  Galician 
Jews  in  general.  At  the  time  of  this  writing  reports 
are  not  at  hand,  but  it  can  easily  be  foreseen  that 
whatever  action  is  taken,  is  bound  to  prove  inadequate. 
The  ruling  party,  which  consists  of  a  combination  of 
the  nobles,  and  the  Catholic  clergy,  is  naturally 
hostile  to  the  Jews.  A  number  of  minor  instances 
in  the  practice  of  officials  illustrates  this  daily.  Asa 
trifling  affair,  but  at  the  same  time  a  good  illustration, 
the  fact  may  be  quoted  that  the  postmaster  of 
Przemysl,  a  city  of  about  50,000  inhabitants,  of  whom 
perhaps  the  majority  are  Jews,  refuses  to  sell  3-heller 
stamps  at  the  time  of  Rosh  Hashanah,  claiming  that 
his  supply  was  exhausted.  It  is  simply  a  ruse  to 
force  the  Jews  to  pay  higher  postage  for  their  New 
Year's  cards.  The  utter  disregard  for  public  opinion 
is  seen  in  the  sentence,  passed  by  the  court  of  Cracow 
on  Esther  Frisch,  who  keeps  a  grocery  in  that  city. 
She  was  sentenced  to  seven  days  in  jail  January  3, 
for  having  insulted  the  Catholic  church,  by  wrapping 
groceries  in  waste-paper,  which  had  the  "Sacred 
Heart"  on  it,  although  she  bought  this  paper  legiti- 
mately at  the  Jesuit  Convent,  which  is  publishing 
the  "Sacred  Heart  Magazine."  The  central  authori- 
ties seem  to  have  been  ashamed  of  this  fact  and 
recommended  to  the  emperor  the  pardon  of  this 
"criminal."  Less  fortunate  was  a  Polish  Jew  who 


THE    YEA  R    567  0  299 

happened  to  meet  a  church  procession,  being  hemmed 
in  by  the  crowd  so  that  he  could  not  avoid  it.  He 
refused  to  take  off  his  hat  and  had  to  serve  a  term  in 
prison  for  this  insult  to  the  Catholic  church.  In 
Hungary  the  clerical  party  was  disappointed  in  its 
hope  of  carrying  the  election  to  the  diet  with  the 
aid  of  extreme  nationalists.  The  cabinet  of  Count 
Khuen-Hedervary  is  now  firmly  established  and  the 
new  diet  has  eleven  Jewish  members,  a  much  smaller 
number  than  the  last  diet,  which  counted  twenty-three 
Jews.  The  premier  was  interviewed  during  the 
campaign,  on  his  attitude  to  the  antisemitic  move- 
ment inaugurated  by  the  Catholic  party,  and  he  gave 
the  perfectly  correct  reply,  that  to  answer  this 
question  would  be  an  insult,  since  he  had  taken  the 
oath  of  office,  to  obey  the  constitution.  In  one 
respect,  however,  even  the  present  cabinet  shows  dis- 
crimination against  the  Jews  by  the  persecution  of  Gal- 
ician  Jews,  who  seem  to  be  quite  numerous  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  country.  It  may  be,  however, 
due  to  the  consideration  that  the  increase  of  this 
population  is  retarding  the  process  of  amalgamation 
of  the  Jews  with  the  Magyar  element.  A  rather 
curious  feature  of  this  policy  is  the  refusal  of  the 
government  to  allow  the  organization  of  Zionist 
societies.  More  important  is  an  incident  in  municipal 
life.  In  the  city  of  Satoralya-Ujhely,  the  Jew,  Dr. 
Solomon  Reicher,  was  elected  mayor  but  the  clergy 
started  such  a  fierce  agitation  that  he  was  forced  to 
resign. 

Belgium    has    an    insignificant    Jewish    population 
and  in  spite  of  the  predominance  of  the  clerical  ele- 


300  SCROLLS 

ment,  conditions  seem  favorable.  There  is  an  organi- 
zation of  the  Jews  on  the  basis  of  the  French  consistor- 
ial  organization,  and  the  new  king,  upon  his  ascension 
to  the  throne  received  a  committee  of  the  Jews  in  the 
same  way  he  granted  audience  to  other  bodies.  The 
young  king  of  Portugal  on  his  visit  to  London, 
granted  an  audience  to  the  representatives  of  the 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  Jewish  congregations,  Nov.  14, 
who  greeted  him  as  a  sovereign  of  the  country  from 
which  they  originally  came,  when  the  congregation 
was  organized  250  years  ago.  The  same  demon- 
stration was  made  when  King  Alphonse  of  Spain 
visited  London  five  years  ago.  At  that  time  the 
Zionists  were  quite  indignant  at  this  act  of  self-humili- 
ation, as  they  called  it,  in  \vhich  two  of  their  prom- 
inent members,  chief  rabbi  Gaster,  and  Sir  Francis 
H.  Montefiore,  participated.  The  latter  was  hissed 
in  the  Congress  of  Basel,  and  the  former  preferred  not 
to  appear  on  the  platform.  The  whole  thing  is  an 
innocent  pastime,  and  King  Manuel  has  harder 
problems  to  deal  with  than  the  question  of  such 
courtesies,  although  he  may  indeed  be  impressed  with 
the  idea  that,  had  his  country  adopted  the  broad 
policy  of  England,  he  would  not  be  facing  such  a 
crisis  now.  A  really  important  event  is  presented  in 
Spain,  where  for  the  first  time  in  history,  a  Jew,  the 
banker,  Gustave  Bauer,  was  elected  member  of  the 
Cortes,  and  while  the  number  of  Jews  in  Spain  is  by 
far  too  insignificant  to  figure  in  the  political  life  of  the 
nation,  the  law  which  granted  freedom  of  public  wor- 
ship is  a  historic  event  in  Judaism  too.  Another 
interesting  event  is  the  granting  of  a  subsidy  for 


THE     YEA  R    5670  301 

Jewish  religious  instruction  in  Greece.  The  number 
of  Jews  in  that  country  is  still  insignificant,  with  the 
exception  of  the  island  of  Corfu.  The  Greeks  were 
always  hostile  to  the  Jews  from  the  time  of  Alexander 
the  Great,  and  only  under  Turkish,  Venetian,  and 
Norman  rule,  were  Jewish  communities  established 
in  Greece,  many  of  whom  emigrated  when  Greece  be- 
came independent.  King  George  stated  to  a  Jewish 
committee  in  Corfu,  in  1879,  that  he  \vould  consider 
it  a  happy  event  if  he  were  to  see  the  first  Jew  as  a 
member  of  the  Parliament.  That  time  seems  far 
distant,  judging  from  the  spirit  shown  by  the  Greek 
population.  Last  year  came  near  furnishing  us  with 
a  repetition  of  the  events  of  1891  in  Corfu,  when  in 
the  island  of  Crete  a  blood-accusation  was  spread. 
It  was  fortunate  that  the  girl,  supposed  to  have  been 
murdered,  turned  up  in  due  time. 

The  change  from  an  Oriental  into  a  somewhat 
Occidental  form  of  government  was  certainly  a  mis- 
fortune for  the  Jews  of  Rumania.  Their  martyrdom 
began  from  the  moment  when  they  passed  under  the 
rule  of  the  socalled  "French  of  the  Orient."  The 
most  serious  feature  of  their  condition  is  that  it 
shows,  how  even  an  international  intervention  is  useless 
unless  it  is  backed  by  the  force  of  arms.  The  Berlin 
Congress  adopted,  in  1878,  as  part  of  the  conditions 
under  which  Rumania  should  be  granted  independence, 
the  abolition  of  all  restrictions,  based  on  religious  be- 
lief. Rumania  submitted,  but,  declaring  the  Jews 
to  be  foreigners,  including  those  who  were  born  in 
the  country  and  had  served  in  the  army,  she  treated 
them  as  outlaws.  One  must  consider  it  an  act  of  mock- 


302  SCROLLS 

ery ,  when  during  the  past  year  fifteen  Jews  received  their 
naturalization,  which  makes  a  total  of  200  naturaliza- 
tions granted  since  1878.  Figuring  that  these  200 
naturalizations  affect  1,000  souls,  it  means  that  99.75 
percent  of  the  Jewish  population  are  treated  as- 
foreigners,  without  a  home  of  their  own.  This  act 
of  grace  to  the  fifteen  parties  was  perhaps  devised  as  an 
offset  to  another  ruinous  measure  directed  against  the 
Jewish  population.  A  new  law  grants  state  subsi- 
dies to  manufacturers  who  employ  domestic  labor  to 
the  extent  of  80  per  cent,  calculated  on  the  basis  of 
wages  paid.  It  means  that  Jews  are  excluded  from 
working  in  factories  and  even  from  holding  clerical 
positions  in  a  manufacturing  establishment.  The 
protest  of  the  Jews  was  unavailing.  By  the  side  of 
this  measure  the  petty  persecutions  continue.  Expul- 
sions from  villages  and  arbitrary  acts  of  officials  are 
of  daily  occurrence.  The  brutal  act  of  a  high  army 
officer,  who  slapped  a  man's  face  in  a  street  car, 
because  he  believed  him  to  be  a  Jew,  shows  the 
spirit  prevalent  in  the  upper  classes.  It  is  interesting 
that  with  all  the  anti-foreign  agitation,  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  movement,  Professor  Jorga,  is  himself 
the  son  of  a  Bulgarian  father  and  a  Greek  mother, 
and  the  grandson  of  a  Russian.  This  Jorga  inter- 
pellated Premier  Bratiano,  the  son  of  the  statesman 
who  invented  the  plan  of  frustrating  the  Berlin  treaty, 
on  the  question  of  a  Jewish  congress,  which  was  to  be 
held  in  Rumania.  The  premier  replied  that  Rumania 
was  a  free  country,  where  everybody  had  the  right  of 
public  assembly  but  this  privilege  does  not  include 
foreigners,  February  4.  The  premier  happened  to  be 


THE    YEA  R   567  0  303 

indignant,  because  some  papers  which  employ  Jews 
on  their  staff,  had  exposed  the  graft  of  which  he  had 
been  guilty.  The  king  himself  is  powerless,  and  he 
undoubtedly  spoke  the  truth,  when  he  said  in  an 
interview'  granted  to  a  correspondent  of  the  "Neue 
Freie  Presse,"  May  5,  that  no  statesman  could  carry 
out  a  policy  against  the  will  of  the  country.  The 
country,  in  this  case  means  the  landed  proprietors, 
and  those  affiliated  with  them,  who,  although  a  small 
minority,  manage  the  affairs  of  the  country. 

The  sore  spot  on  the  Jewish  body  politic  is  the 
condition  in  Russia,  which  was  best  characterized 
in  the  Duma  March  5  by  the  Jewish  member,  Fried- 
man, when  he  said  that,  aside  from  the  absence  of 
pogroms,  the  condition  of  the  Jew  is  far  worse  than  it 
was  before  the  constitution  had  been  promulgated. 
An  insight  into  the  general  condition  of  the  country 
is  gained  through  the  fact  that  during  the  year  1909, 
1,435  death  sentences  were  passed  in  the  country, 
and  the  number  of  known  executions  reaches  549. 
There  are  in  all  likelihood  more,  because  the  govern- 
ment does  not  publish  any  statistics  of  them  and  the 
statistics  gathered  from  newspaper  reports  are  natur- 
ally incomplete.  Reaction  is  in  full  swing.  The 
Czar  received  a  Jewish  deputation  in  Odessa,  and 
replied  to  their  adress  of  homage  in  a  few  cold  words, 
October  20.  His  own  sentiment  is  clearly  demon- 
strated by  the  honor  he  bestowed  on  Prince  Meshts- 
cherski,  the  editor  of  the  antisemitic  paper,  "(irazh- 
danin,"  on  the  occasion  of  his  fiftieth  anniversary, 
wrhen  he  handed  him  his  portrait  with  the  autographic 
dedication,  "To  the  indefatigable  worker  for  the  preser- 


304  SCROLLS 

vation  of  the  Russian  empire."  By  the  side  of  these 
official  facts,  of  which  there  is  documentary  evidence, 
the  rumors  of  proposed  reforms  mean  very  little.  One 
of  these  may  be  mentioned  because  it  was  exploded  in 
time.  Various  papers  reported  that  Premier  Stolypin 
received  a  Jewish  committee  in  the  government  of 
Kovno  and  promised  an  improvement  of  the  political 
condition  of  the  Jews,  provided  the  latter  would 
change  their  political  attitude.  The  fact  underlying 
this  report  was,  upon  later  investigation,  proved  to  be 
this:  Stolypin  spent  the  summer  on  his  estate,  near 
Lida,  Government  of  Kovno.  One  Sunday  as  he 
was  going  to  church,  the  people  greeted  him,  and  he, 
like  the  squire  of  the  good,  olden  times,  had  a  few  kind 
words  for  those  whom  he  knew.  Amongst  others,  he 
hailed  a  Jewish  teamster,  Hirsch  Goldberg,  with  the 
humorous  remark,  "Well,  Hirsch,  how  is  the  smuggling 
trade,  are  you  still  at  it?"  Hirsch  fell  in  with  the 
joke  and  said:  "Thanks,  Your  Excellency;  fine!" 
whereupon  Stolypin  said:  "Next  time  you  had  better 
be  careful  when  you  speak  to  the  premier."  Every- 
body took  this  as  a  joke,  but  poor  Hirsch  was  to  learn 
the  serious  part  of  it,  for,  a  few  months  later,  he 
received  an  order  of  expulsion  from  the  border 
district  as  a  professional  smuggler.  His  real  attitude 
Stolypin  showed  in  receiving  a  committee  of  the 
rabbinical  conference  March  29,  which,  convened  by 
the  government,  met  in  St.  Petersburg  March  15  to 
April  17.  Although  the  committee  was  received  in 
audience  by  appointment,  they  had  to  wait  for  nearly 
two  hours  before  they  were  admitted,  and  in  reply  to 
their  request  for  an  improvement  of  the  condition 


THE    YEAR   5670  305 


of  the  Jews  Stolypin  said  that  he  could  not  make  any 
definite  promises,  but  improvement  would  have  to  be 
slow,  because  the  Jews  took  a  disproportionately 
large  part  in  the  revolution,  and  before  their  condition 
can  be  bettered  they  must  show  their  loyalty  to  the 
Czar  and  the  country.  The  convention  itself  was 
quite  a  remarkable  event,  inasmuch  as  it  comprised 
all  shades  of  Russian  Jews,  from  the  Hasidic  rabbi, 
Schneirsohn,  to  the  very  liberal  lawyers,  who  rep- 
resented the  St.  Petersburg  community.  Whether  it 
will  have  any  effect  remains  to  be  seen.  The  same 
government  which  treats  the  Jews  as  a  class  regardless 
of  their  differences  of  education  and  political  standing 
demands  that  the  Jews  should  amalgamate  writh  the 
Russian  population.  The  commissioner  of  the  govern- 
ment at  the  conference  objected  to  the  use  of  the  term 
"Obschtchina"  (community),  and  demanded  that 
the  term  "Prichod"  (congregation)  should  be  used. 
Similar  motives  inspired  the  various  actions  taken 
against  Zionist  societies.  The  Senate  decided  that 
such  societies  are  bound  to  widen  the  breach  betwreen 
Je\vs  and  non-Jews,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  this  breach 
is  widened  by  the  same  authorities  when  some  of  them 
will  not  allow'  Jewish  students  to  coach  Christian 
students,  and,  in  one  instance,  a  principal  of  a  gym- 
nasium in  the  Government  of  Kieff  threatened  a 
Christian  student  with  expulsion  for  tutoring  a 
Jewish  family.  A  hot-bed  of  antisemitism  is  Odessa, 
where  the  real  leader  of  the  government  is  the  city 
governor,  Tolmatchoff.  The  most  typical  Russian 
case  was  the  annullment  of  the  election  of  the  lawyer, 
Arcadius  Brodski,  October  11,  on  the  ground  that 


306  SCROLLS 

his  real  name  was  Aaron  Brodski.  He  was  fined  100 
rubles  for  assuming  a  false  name  and  the  Senate 
refused  to  publish  his  election,  so  that  he  preferred  to 
resign  his  seat  December  12.  The  City  Council,  not 
being  able  to  defeat  the  Jewish  candidate,  passed  a 
resolution  to  petition  the  Emperor  to  withdraw  the 
electoral  franchise  from  the  Jews.  This  Tolmatchoff 
is  really  ingenious  in  his  inventions  of  measures  of 
persecution.  At  one  time  he  demanded  that  all 
synagogs  must  have  the  imperial  crown  with  the  cross 
on  it  over  their  portals,  so  that  they  can  use  it  for 
illumination  on  national  holidays.  In  another  in- 
stance he  considered  it  a  disgrace  to  see  a  cross  in  a 
Jewish  place.  A  Jewish  stone  mason,  who  had  made 
monuments  for  Christians,  was,  upon  the  order  of  the 
Governor,  charged  with  violating  the  law  which 
prohibits  the  dealing  in  articles  of  Christian  worship 
by  Jews,  and,  while  Tolmatchoff  wishes  a  cross  over 
the  entrance  of  a  synagog,  the  Governor  of  Smolensk 
orders  the  synagog  to  be  torn  down,  because  it  had  a 
dome  resembling  that  of  the  Christian  churches. 
With  great  difficulty  the  congregation  obtained  from 
the  Minister  a  repeal  of  the  order,  under  the  promise 
that  the  roof  would  be  altered.  The  contradictory 
nature  of  the  government's  policy  appears  in  many 
ways.  One  one  hand,  police  and  administrative 
authorities  prohibit  the  use  of  Yiddish  in  literary 
societies;  on  the  other  hand,  some  authorities  will  not 
allow  Jews  to  become  Christians.  The  Lutheran  con- 
sistory received  an  order  not  to  convert  any  Jews,  and 
a  similar  order  was  issued  to  the  Armenian  patriarch, 
for,  if  Jews  are  to  convert,  they  must  convert  to  the 


THE    YEAR   5670  307 


Greek  Catholic  Church.  Reactionaries  find  the  Jews 
a  convenient  scapegoat.  The  great  hero  of  the 
Japanese  War,  Alexis  Kuropatkin,  in  a  recently 
published  book,  "Russia  for  the  Russians,"  pleads  for 
the  exclusion  of  the  Jews  from  the  army.  Unfortu- 
nately we  can  not  say  that  this  hostile  sentiment  is 
confined  to  the  bureaucratic  circles.  The  sessions 
of  the  Duma  present  often  a  very  sad  spectacle. 
Whatever  legislative  measures  were  taken  for  the 
Jews  were  hostile.  A  bill,  which  introduced  auto- 
nomous county  administration  in  the  territory  of  the 
former  Kingdom  of  Poland,  excluded  the  Jews  from 
representation  in  the  elections  for  theZemstvos,  June 
10.  A  committee  on  this  bill  went  even  one  step 
further  by  introducing  a  report  to  exclude  the  Jews 
from  holding  offices  under  the  Zemstvos,  a  motion 
which  was  directed  chiefly  against  Jewish  physicians 
in  county  hospitals.  This  report  failed  to  receive  the 
necessary  majority  because  even  Nationalists  declared 
it  impossible  to  dispense  with  Jewish  physicians, 
June  6.  The  same  hostile  spirit  was  manifest  in  a 
debate  on  the  Sunday  law,  which  was  made  so  drastic 
in  order  to  deprive  the  Jews  of  the  very  poor  suste- 
ance  which  they  obtain  from  shopkeeping  in  the  towns 
of  the  Pale.  In  the  course  of  this  debate,  May  13-14, 
Nikolski,  the  spokesman  of  the  cadets,  said:  "If 
the  Jew  keeps  his  religion,  he  is  denounced;  if  he  is  a 
liberal  in  religion,  he  is  denounced  again."  A  motion 
of  the  most  rabid  antisemite,  Markoff,  who  wanted 
to  exclude  the  Jews  from  holding  office  as  Justices  of 
the  Peace,  failed  to  pass,  because  the  conservative 
Octobrists  declared  that  the  Jewish  question  must  be 


308  SCROLLS 

treated  separately.  This,  however,  does  not  mean 
that  the  Jews  may  hold  such  offices.  It  merely  means 
that  the  law  does  not  give  or  deny  them  the  right 
expressly.  In  the  same  way  the  Duma  refused  to  pass 
an  amendment  by  the  Jewish  member,  Friedman,  to 
a  new  building  code.  The  code  provides  that  persons 
not  having  the  right  of  residence  in  a  city  can  not 
build  any  houses  there.  Friedman  amended  this 
provision  so  that  it  should  not  apply  to  Jews,  but  his 
motion  was  lost,  April  16.  Another  motion  to  recog- 
nize Yiddish  as  a  language  in  the  schools  of  the  Pale 
in  the  same  way  in  which  the  languages  of  other 
nationalities  are  recognized  failed  to  pass.  The 
strangest  thing  is  that  the  government,  with  all  the 
complaints  against  the  Jews  as  being  an  economic  evil 
discourages  all  attempts  at  taking  up  agriculture. 
The  few  colonies  that  exist  from  the  time  of  Nicholas  I, 
are  in  every  possible  way  persecuted  by  the  authori- 
ties. They  are  not  permitted  to  participate  in  bids  for 
the  rent  of  government  land,  and  even  that  land  which 
they  hold,  exceptionally  under  special  grants  as 
soldiers  who  fought  in  the  Japanese  War,  is  taken 
from  them  upon  the  expiration  of  their  lease.  The 
worst  persecution  of  all,  however,  exists  in  the  school 
system.  Minister  Schwartz  is  prolific  in  devising 
laws,  discriminating  against  the  Jews.  The  worst 
of  all  is  the  recent  enactment  that  private  schools 
must  keep  within  the  percent  limit.  The  condition  is 
this:  When  the  restrictions  on  school  attendance 
were  introduced  in  1887,  Jews  would  send  their 
children  to  existing  private  schools,  or  establish 
new  Jewish  schools.  The  minister  is  afraid  that  this 


THE    YEA  R   5670  309 

may  lead  to  an  evasion  of  the  law,  although  only  the 
prosperous  classes  could  avail  themselves  of  such  an 
opportunity.  He  therefore  declared  that  all  private 
schools,  if  they  wish  to  share  the  privileges  of  public- 
schools  in  recognition  at  the  universities,  must 
introduce  the  percent  limit.  In  another  order  he 
applied  a  strict  limit  to  commercial  schools,  which  is 
a  greater  hardship  still,  for,  while  in  the  case  of  the 
high  schools,  the  objection  would  be  that  the  Jews 
would  in  time  form  too  large  a  percentage  in  the 
universities  and  in  the  professions,  there  can  be  no 
such  objections  to  commercial  schools  which  prepare 
their  pupils  for  practical  life.  Another  order  demand- 
ed that  within  three  years  the  percent  limit  must  be 
strictly  enforced.  By  the  side  of  these  rulings  some 
other  measures,  oppressive  as  they  are,  sink  into 
comparative  insignificance.  Thus  the  privilege  grant- 
ed in  1905  to  the  children  of  soldiers  who  had  fought 
in  the  war,  admitting  them  regardless  of  the  percent 
limit  is  now  withdrawn.  In  excursions  of  students 
Jews  can  not  take  part,  unless  the  minister  grants  a 
special  permit.  These  constant  rules  and  orders 
and  interpretations  lead  to  such  confusion  that  the 
courts,  including  the  Senate,  are  perplexed  in  giving 
decisions.  It  is  perhaps  due  to  this  condition  that 
the  bill  declaring  the  abrogation  of  the  so-called  Pale, 
which  was  introduced  June  13  by  the  Jewish  member, 
Friedman,  in  the  Duma,  received  166  signatures, 
amongst  them  even  from  members  of  the  reactionary 
party.  A  type  of  this  confusion  is  found  in  a  decla- 
ration of  the  Senate  on  the  question,  whether  Jews, 
living  outside  of  the  Pale,  have  a  right  to  spend  the 


310  SCROLLS 

summer  in  a  village.  This  question  was  brought 
before  the  Senate  by  the  Minister  of  the  Interior, 
who  thereby  declared  that  he  did  not  know  the  law 
on  that  point.  The  Senate  began  to  discuss  this 
question  April  1,  and  on  May  20,  having  devoted 
four  sessions  to  the  discussion,  declared  itself  incom- 
petent to  solve  it.  Another  proof  of  the  confusion  is 
a  recent  ruling  of  the  Senate  that  the  police  may 
demand  from  every  Jewish  merchant  living  outside 
of  the  Pale  documentary  evidence  that  he  did  not 
exhaust  the  time  of  six  months,  which  the  law  allows 
him  every  year.  That  means  that  a  commercial 
traveler  must  present,  upon  coming  to  St.  Petersburg, 
a  certified  list  of  the  towns  which  he  visited  and  the 
time  he  spent  in  each  town.  The  enforcement  of  the 
law  on  the  restriction  of  residence  was  particularly 
severe  in  Kieff ,  and  the  daily  press  published  for  a  time 
almost  daily  stories  of  horrors.  American  authorities 
were  even  approached  with  a  request  to  interfere  in 
this  matter.  Unfortunately — one  almost  feels  com- 
pelled to  say — the  incident  was  not  as  bad  as  rumor 
had  it.  Kieff  is  situated  within  the  Pale,  but  the  city 
itself  is  not  open  to  Jews.  In  spite  of  this  fact,  a  large 
number  of  Jews  reside  there.  Some  on  the  ground 
of  exceptional  privilege,  others  in  definance  of  the  law, 
and  in  most  instances  with  the  toleration  of  the  police 
A  liberal  member  in  the  Duma  said  properly:  "The 
restrictive  laws  serve  two  purposes;  one  to  provide 
the  police  with  graft  by  being  violated,  and  another 
giving  them  a  chance  to  rise  as  a  reward  for  their 
zeal  in  enforcing  them."  Kieff  had  a  large  number  of 
these  cases,  and  some  active  official  began  to  show  his 
patriotism  by  ordering  expulsions,  which  began  May 


THE    YEA  R   567  0  311 

14.  A  condition  which  was  far  worse  was  a  case  in 
Moscow,  in  which  a  man  had  the  right  of  residence  as 
a  clerk  in  a  large  business  house  and  his  wife  had  the 
right  of  residence  as  a  midwife,  and  yet  the  police 
ordered  the  expulsion  of  their  three  children,  who 
were  of  the  ages  of  4  to  10  years.  In  this  case  the 
Senate  reversed  the  decision  of  the  police,  April  8. 
One  can  easily  understand  what  such  complicated 
laws  on  the  most  primitive  rights  of  human  beings 
mean  for  the  individual.  They  are  now  being  carried 
out  with  a  barbarity  that  baffles  description,  and  the 
autonomous  bodies  like  city  councils  and  Zemstvos 
fall  in  line,  the  most  ingenious  and  disgraceful  decis- 
ion being  that  of  a  mayor  who  introduced  a  percent 
limit  applying  to  Jewish  cattle  of  which  only  a  certain 
percentage  is  permitted  on  the  village  pasture.  The 
Russian  statesmen  seem  to  derive  satisfaction  from  the 
fact  that  in  Finland  the  condition  of  the  Jews  is  still 
worse.  Suvoroff  published  a  book,  which  was  also 
translated,  into  German,  in  which  he  attacks  the 
Finns  for  demanding  autonomy  when  they  oppress 
the  Jews  far  more  than  does  Russia.  It  is  true  that 
Finnish  law  maintains  old  Swedish  regulations  dating 
from  the  eighteenth  century,  which  exclude  the  Jews 
entirely.  The  Finnish  diet  adopted  a  more  liberal 
measure  at  its  last  session,  November  17-18.  The 
bill,  however,  could  not  be  made  a  law,  because  the 
diet  was  dissolved  on  the  following  day.  A  new  bill 
in  preparation  already  becomes  characteristic  by  the 
title,  "On  Jews  and  Gypsies." 

The  introduction  of  a  parliamentary  lorm  of  govern- 
ment in  Persia  and  the  changes  in  Morocco  have  not 
in  the  slightest  way  improved  the  condition  of  the 


312  SCROLLS 

Jews.  Their  status  continues  there,  just  exactly  as 
it  was  in  the  era  of  the  Crusades  in  Europe.  One 
official,  in  order  to  blackmail  the  Jews,  makes  a  num- 
ber of  them  prisoners  and  forces  them  to  work  on 
Rosh  Hashanah.  Another  who  demands  of  the 
Jewish  butchers  a  special  tribute  in  the  shape  of  meat 
for  his  hounds,  punishes  those  who  refuse  to  furnish 
what  he  demands,  by  imprisoning  them  on  Yom  Kip- 
pur.  The  only  remedy  lies  w7ith  representatives  of  the 
Alliance  Israelite,  who  are  appealed  to  in  such  cases. 
They  either  go  directly  to  the  grand  vizier  or  report 
their  complaints  to  headquarters  in  Paris,  whereupon 
the  French  ambassador  is  requested  to  use  his  good 
offices  with  the  sultan,  and  the  result  is  a  word  of 
assurance  that  the  case  will  be  investigated  and  the 
guilty  official  punished,  but  conditions  remain  just 
as  they  were.  Exactly  the  same  is  the  condition  in 
Persia.  The  central  government  is  powerless,  and  the 
governors  in  the  provinces  deal  with  their  Jewish 
subjects  as  they  please,  and  even  if  occasionally  they 
should  try  to  prevent  murder  and  pillage,  they  are 
afraid  of  the  priests,  who  preach  violence.  The  last 
year  brought  us  a  brutal  case  of  murder  in  Sannah 
April  30,  where  a  rich  Jew  was  cruelly  murdered  under 
the  charge  that  he  held  illicit  relations  with  a  Moham- 
medan woman,  while  the  actual  cause  was  that  he 
refused  to  yield  to  blackmail.  Another  case  of  pillage, 
which  assumed  very  grave  importance,  occurred  in 
Hamadan,  May  9. 

The  ideals  of  the  Zionists  seem  to  be  just  as  remote 
from  realization  as  ever.  Nasim  Bey,  the  leader  of 
the  Young  Turks,  declared  himself  strongly  against 
Zionism,  and  the  government  is  not  by  any  means 


THE    YEA  R   567  0  313 

more  favorable  to  it.  There  is,  however,  a  more 
serious  condition  revealed  by  the  fact  that  the  prom- 
ised improvements  are  slow  to  come.  Neither  roads, 
nor  harbor  improvements,  nor  water  works,  nor  a 
clearly  defined  right  of  acquiring  real  estate  has  been 
promulgated.  The  only  event  which  may  be  chron- 
icled as  an  improvement  is  a  grant  from  public  funds 
to  a  Jewish  hospital.  On  the  other  hand,  police 
excesses  in  Salonica,  and  in  Adrianople,  June  20, 
show  that  the  Turkish  official  can  no  more  be  trusted 
than  his  colleague  in  Persia.  The  prohibition  of 
immigration  to  Palestine  continues  in  force  and,  while 
it  is  easily  evaded,  there  are  far  more  serious  obstacles 
in  the  growing  hostility  of  the  Arabic  peasants,  from 
which  the  Jewish  colonists  are  suffering  severely.  An 
important  event  in  the  way  of  progress  was  the 
election  of  three  Jews  to  the  city  council  of  Jerusalem, 
so  that  for  the  first  time  in  1,840  years  Jews  have  again 
a  voice  in  the  administration  of  their  ancient  capital. 
In  this  connection  Tunis  may  be  mentioned,  although 
it  is  practically  a  French  province.  After  years  of 
controversy  the  French  government  adopted  one 
progressive  measure.  The  law  of  April  15  allows  the 
naturalization  of  Jews  who  have  served  in  the  French 
army.  In  this  way  the  arbitrary  rule  of  Mohamme- 
dan courts,  to  which  Jews  were  subjected  in  dealing 
with  Mohammedans,  and  the  inadequate  rabbinical 
law,  to  which  they  had  to  have  recourse  in  their 
internal  affairs,  are  replaced  by  a  more  modern 
condition. 

The  hopes  placed  in  the  possibilities  of  Argentina 
by  Baron  de  Hirsch  have  by  no  means  been  realized. 
The  last  report  of  the  lea  gives  us  the  number  of 


314  SCROLLS 

Jews  in  the  Argentina  colonies  as  13,000,  and  the 
number  of  parties  settled  last  year  as  297.  At  this 
rate  it  would  take  a  hundred  years  before  the  popu- 
lation would  reach  100,000,  and,  therefore,  the  only 
tangible  result  of  the  large  benefactions  of  the  great 
philanthropist  is  to  have  opened  up  a  new  country 
and  shown  the  way  for  newcomers.  A  solution  of  the 
problem  of  emigration  the  country  certainly  is  not. 
It  is  unfortunate  that  a  hostile  attitude  is  noticeable 
in  the  native  population.  A  demonstration  of  some 
anarchists,  on  the  occasion  of  the  centenary  of 
Argentina's  independence,  against  the  "Russos," 
was  probably  inspired  by  anti-Jewish  feelings,  and  so 
in  all  likelihood  the  prohibition  of  the  Heders,  although 
this  is  claimed  to  be  necessary  as  an  educational 
measure.  Ill-foreboding  are  also  some  cases  of 
assassination  in  the  colonies.  A  more  promising  land 
seems  to  be  South  Africa,  which  recently  followed  Can- 
ada and  Australia  by  forming  a  federation.  The 
number  of  Jews  who  were  called  to  municipal  honors 
is  quite  gratifying,  most  prominent  amongst  them, 
the  election  of  Harry  Graumann  as  mayor  of  Johannes- 
burg, an  impressive  piece  of  news  when  it  is  considered 
that  only  ten  years  ago  he  could  not  even  vote  at  a 
municipal  election. 

Zionism  has  certainly  had  a  bad  year.  This  is 
stated  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  calm  historic 
observer,  without  the  slighest  desire  to  greet  the  fact 
as  welcome.  The  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the 
convention  of  Kattowitz  was  celebrated  on  November 
7,  but  even  an  enthusiast  will  not  say  that  the  rapid 
progress  made  since  that  time  has  not  been  followed 


THE    YEAR    5670  315 

by  signs  of  decay.  The  congress  held  in  Hamburg, 
December  26-31,  was  certainly  a  failure.  If  for  no 
reason  then  because  it  failed  to  elect  its  officers.  The 
subsequent  split  in  the  English  Zionist  Federation, 
July  17,  and  the  resignation  of  President  Dreyfus,  who 
plainly  stated  that  the  movement  did  not  interest 
him  any  more,  is  another  serious  blow.  The  Berlin 
conference  of  Zionist  leaders,  June  27-28,  with  the 
subsequent  announcement  of  Xordau  and  Warburg 
that  they  could  not  accept  office,  shows  a  state  of 
decomposition.  The  political  situation  in  Turkey 
and  the  economic  situation  in  Palestine  have  not 
improved  in  the  sense  in  which  Zionists  must  wish 
it.  Mr.  Zangwill,  in  his  brilliant  article  in  the  "Fort- 
nightly Review,"  pleads  for  Western  Austrailia  and  it 
must  be  recognized  that  if  the  Zionists  are  right  in 
their  assertion,  that  the  solution  of  the  Jewish  prob- 
lem can  only  be  worked  out  by  the  creation  of  a 
Jewish  state,  then  Zangwill  is  right  by  calling  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  Palestine  is,  for  the  present  at 
least,  an  impossibility,  and  Zionists  must  look  else- 
where. This,  of  course,  does  not  in  any  way  prove 
that  Territorialists  would  be  more  successful  than  the 
lea  was  in  Argentina,  although  they  have  a  perfect 
right  to  ask  that  they  be  given  a  chance.  Similarly 
undecided  are  religious  conditions.  In  the  forefront 
of  the  movement  stands  the  Jewish  Religious  Union  of 
Kngland,  with  Mr.  Montefiore  at  its  head.  The 
success  of  this  movement  is  not  merely  emphasized  by 
the  acquisition  of  a  synagog  building,  but  still  more 
by  the  effect  which  it  has  had  on  other  organiztions. 
The  old  Reform  congregation,  the  West  London 


316  SCROLLS 

Synagog  of  British  Jews,  appointed  a  committee  to 
consider  the  introduction  of  English  into  the  services, 
and  similar  reforms.  Even  the  Orthodox  United 
Synagog  introduced  Sabbath  afternoon  services  with 
English  prayers,  sermons  and  choral  singing.  Ham- 
burg, the  pioneer  Reform  congregation,  has  gone  a 
step  further  and  introduced  Sunday  lectures,  although 
with  an  emphatic  protestation  against  the  idea  that 
these  lectures  are  services.  Germany  held  a  con- 
vention of  the  Liberal  Union  at  Nuremberg,  and 
Judaism  was  represented  at  the  congress  of  liberal 
religions  at  Berlin.  Of  the  French  Liberal  Union 
nothing  has  been  heard,  and  the  very  interesting 
Russian  movement  seems  to  be  entirely  abandoned. 
The  teacher  of  Jewish  religion  in  St.  Petersburg  high 
schools.  Dr.  Nahum  Pereferkovitch,  published  an 
appeal  in  a  St.  Petersburg  daily,  September  26,  to 
form  a  liberal  congregation,  but  nothing  came  of  it. 
America  had  during  the  year  past  twro  meetings  of  the 
Central  Conference  of  American  Rabbis,  The  first 
gave  orthodoxy  a  good  opportunity  for  denouncing  the 
liberal  wing  as  infidels,  but  aside  from  the  exchange 
of  such  courtesies,  communal  life  has  not  shown  any 
decided  change. 

Of  about  three  hundred  new  books  that  came 
within  the  range  of  the  observation  of  the  reviewer 
during  the  last  year,  only  a  few  can  be  mentioned  by 
title,  and  none  in  any  way  adequately  discussed. 
Attention  may  be  called  to  the  publication  of  an 
encyclopedia  on  Islam,  and  to  the  rapid  progress  of 
the  Catholic  Encyclopedia,  while  the  self-sacrificing 
zeal  of  J.  D.  Eisenstein  resulted  in  the  publishing  of 


THE    YEA  R   567  0  317 

the  fourth  volume  of  his  Hebrew  encyclopedia,  and 
Ben  Jehuda's  general  Hebrew  dictionary  has  pro- 
gressed to  the  letter  "Dalet,"  but  the  indefatigable 
zeal  of  Isidore  Singer  does  not  seem  to  have  succeeded 
in  bringing  out  the  meritorious  work  of  an  anthology 
of  the  whole  Jewish  literature  in  English.  To 
attempt  an  outline  of  literary  works  that  have 
appeared  is  a  task  for  which  the  space  of  a  newspaper 
would  not  suffice.  In  illustrating  this  point  it  may 
be  said  that  the  works  comprise  a  range  of  twenty- 
five  centuries.  S.  Daiches  gave  us  an  interesting 
investigation  of  the  Jews  in  Babylonia,  and  Ludwig 
Geiger  a  volume  on  the  towering  personality  of  his 
father,  Abraham  Geiger.  Of  American  authors  who 
have  the  first  claim  on  our  attention,  Ginzberg's 
"The  Legends  of  the  Jews,"  Margolis'  Aramaic  Gram- 
mar, Amram's  Old  Italian  Prints,  de  Sola  Pool's 
Treatise  on  the  Kaddish,  Sulzberger's  original  demon- 
stration of  a  parliament  in  ancient  Israel,  must  be 
mentioned.  A  German  work  of  more  than  average 
interest,  written  by  an  American  author,  is  Kohler's 
systematic  theology,  a  much  needed  and  long-looked- 
for  work  on  this  important  subject.  In  Hebrew  we 
have  the  very  interesting  travels  of  Selikovitsch  and 
a  volume  of  poems  by  Hzekiel  Leavitt  and  in  Yiddish 
the  inimitable  humor  of  Zevin  presented  to  us  with 
brilliant  sketches  of  Russian  life  in  America.  It  is 
impossible  to  give  a  complete  list  of  historical  works 
on  certain  parts  of  Jewish  history,  such  as  Oppen- 
heim's  excellent  sketch  of  early  Jewish  History  in 
New  York,  the  valuable,  though  cumbersome, 
history  of  the  Jews  of  Baden,  by  Levin  ;  of  Posnanski's 


-318  SCROLLS 

short,  but  valuable,  treatise  on  modern  Karaitic  litera- 
ture, or  the  presentation  of  the  legal  status  of  the  Jews 
in  Prussia,  by  Michaelis;  in  England,  by  Henriques; 
in  Wuertemberg,  by  Gunzenhauser.  The  great 
variety  in  Jewish  literature  is  exemplified  by  Ludwig 
Geiger's  "Jews  in  German  Literature,"  and  by 
Debre's  essay  on  the  Jew  in  modern  French  fiction; 
still  more  by  Mr.  Montefiore's  radical,  though 
scholarly,  book  on  the  synoptic  gospels;  by  the  still 
more  radical  "Orpheus,"  of  Solomon  Reinach,  and, 
as  a  counterpiece,  the  responsa  of  the  late  rabbi  of 
Pressburg,  Bunem  Schreiber,  with  the  discussion  of  the 
subtleties  of  rabbinical  law,  showing  how  Judaism 
is  world-wide,  not  merely  in  its  geographical  dis- 
tribution, but  also  in  its  thought. 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


m  L9-Series  • 


A"    II  I    I 
001 


/->-.  - '"Ill 

084  521 


Univei 
Soi 
Li 


